CATE Spring 2020
BULLETIN
CATE B U L L E T I N EDITOR
Avani Patel Shah CONTENT LEAD Matt McClenathen GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Mya Cubero PHOTOGRAPHERS
Aimee Stanchina, Spencer Michaels '20, Alicia Afshar, Ashleigh Mower ARCHIVIST
Judy Savage HEADMASTER
Benjamin D. Williams IV ASSISTANT HEAD OF SCHOOL FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Charlotte Brownlee '85 COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
Avani Patel Shah Matt McClenathen Aimee Stanchina ADVANCEMENT OFFICE
Lindsay Newlove Evan Akers Katie Convoy Chris Giles Guille Gil-Reynoso Laura Jespersen Andrew MacDonnell Sarah Preston Elana Stone Tiarzha Taylor MISSION STATEMENT
Through commitment, scholarship, companionship, and service, each member of the Cate community contributes to what our founder called “... the spirit of this place ... all compounded of beauty and virtue, quiet study, vigorous play, and hard work.” FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
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The Cate Bulletin is published three times a year by Cate School and is distrubuted free of charge to alumni, parents, and friends of the School. Send correspondence and address changes to: communications@cate.org The Cate Bulletin is printed by V3 on Topkote paper.
Students and faculty share screenshots from Zoom during Cate’s online learning program in the Spring trimester.
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In this
issue
Features 30
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Wellness at Cate
Cate & Carpinteria: A Century of Connections
Henry’s Camp: The Brown Family’s Legacy on the Kern River
Charlotte Brownlee '85 takes an inside look at challenges students face and the increase of student support services at Cate.
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With more involvement between the two communities than ever before, the relationship between Cate and Carpinteria is stronger than ever.
Monique Parsons '84 documents the history and tradition of the Kern River outings trip and the Brown family.
In Every Issue 4 FROM THE HEADMASTER
Ben Williams discusses the transition to remote learning and finding continuity in this changed world.
6 ON THE MESA
The stories in this section take place here, on the Mesa, of course, but also around the world.
56 CLASS NOTES
From the West Coast to the East Coast and all over the world, Cate alumni share recent news about their lives.
66 IN MEMORIAM
We honor alumni and community members who have passed with reflections on their time at Cate and beyond.
74 FROM THE ARCHIVES
The 1970s were a pivotal time for change on the Mesa. One thing that hasn’t changed is good music.
Star soccer alumni Ema Boateng '13, Ryan Borchardt '16, Christian Herman '16, and Joshua Yaro '13 (not pictured) returned to the Mesa in January to scrimmage with the current Rams. 3
From the Headmaster
The World is Changed
In early February, I wrote an introduction to this Bulletin, and yet now it feels like it was written for another era. The pace of our rapidly evolving context is hard to fathom. And schools, at least as history has shown, are generally not very adept when it comes to sudden or rapid change. Perhaps this is an opportunity to defeat that notion.
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Often times in various publications and in spoken presentations I have referenced William Shepard Biddle, Class of 1918 and his iconic letter that prefaces School Days in California. In it Biddle refers to the fundamental continuity that exists “between the old school and the new.” Written in the early 1950s, the juxtaposition is meant to apply to the original school at the bottom of the Mesa and the newly constructed one atop it where we make our home today.
evoked in his letter. In the coming trimester we want to see our students and have them see us. We want to deepen and enrich the relationships that have always defined this community. And we want our students to be reassured, to be stimulated by thoughts and ideas, to find comfort and purpose in a re-imagined version of Cate. We want them to know that the community of the school is not a geographical concept but an emotional, intellectual, and relational one.
But there is more in Biddle’s language than simply a temporal reference. And it is not only about our campus, which as I write houses only faculty and their families. Cate—at least in some form— is now a digital expression, a remotelearning experience, and an online entity. It became so in a 12-day period between Wednesday, March 11, and Saturday, March 22. On Monday, March 23, our third trimester began online.
Ironically, I ended the early February iteration of this letter with a reference to our inquiry question, “What is the news of the world?” and the manner in which our seniors have taken it up in their Servons Speeches.
We are far from alone in this necessary transition. Our peer schools around the world have done the same, each in their own way. At Cate, aside from mastering the technology and pedagogy that enable online learning, we have also confronted the critical question of what exactly we are trying to deliver with this program, of the relationship between “the old school to the new.” And it is that assessment where we find the continuity that Biddle so gracefully
Those talks are where we are reminded, I wrote, that we are not alone, that our worries and fears are not exclusive to us, that our dreams are worthy and our possibilities ours to build. It is the “news” we need to hear, the kind that holds meaning not just in the moment but in every one that will follow. Surely that sentiment holds in this new context, just as it did in the old one. A fundamental continuity of tradition, indeed. Servons,
Benjamin D. Williams IV
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On the
Mesa Dignity & Community By Dr. Stephanie Yeung, Director of Inclusion In 1917, more than a decade before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born, as World War I raged, American poet Wallace Stevens wrote a haiku-inspired poem entitled “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” While many of our seniors encountered this poem during their exploration of literary Modernism each fall, we returned to it this winter because it spoke to our goals for this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day program. We sought to emulate this piece not for the challenge it posed to standards of poetic content and form, but for its ability to consider and reconsider a single subject from different perspectives. Beyond Wallace’s original poem, we were inspired by a reimagining accomplished by New York-based African American poet Raymond Patterson. In 1969, writing only a year after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, Patterson turned Wallace’s lens onto a different subject – racialized difference. With his poem “Twenty-Six Ways of Looking at a Blackman,” Patterson implored readers to afford the same careful attention and possibility to each other that Wallace afforded that little blackbird. In Patterson’s version, the speaker models 6
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Pierce Thompson '20 laughs along with other students while participating in the community drum circle on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Malik Sow & Friends begin the MLK Day Program in the Hitchcock Theatre with a traditional West African Griot performance.
the complexity, nuance, and beauty that arises when we take the time to see, grapple with, and hold in tension the shifting aspects of a person that come into focus when we see them as an individual, as part of a particular group, and as a member of complicated and ever-changing society. Accordingly, our program’s goal was to create opportunities to reflect on and share our own histories as well as to listen and find meaning, strength, and connection in the stories of others. When it comes to learning about how to recognize each other’s dignity and live together in community, it is surprising just how much time we have to spend getting to know ourselves better. Understanding ourselves, and therefore the lens through which we view the world, is an ongoing process for as Anaïs Nin once said, “We see the world not as it is, but as we are.” Until we have a more comprehensive understanding of who we are, we will never really understand why we do the things we do, why we feel welcome at certain times and selfconscious at others, and why we can show up without filters in some places and consciously curate what we display in others. To achieve this year’s goal, we participated in an activity designed around the popular poem by George
Mohammed Bilal, the Director of Diversity & Inclusion at Stanford, captivates the audience with his presentation of “12 Steps to Diversity.”
Ella Lyon entitled “Where I’m From.” Writing our own “Where I’m From” poems encouraged us to move beyond caption obvious aspects of identity and focus on experiences, relationships, hopes, and interests. We articulated concrete elements of our identities, reflected on our roots, and created an opportunity to share these insights with the entire school. This experience, along with the griot storytelling and community drumming that bookended the day’s events, continued the 2019-2020 focus area for inclusion work: affirming the inherent dignity of each person on this Mesa and building a stronger, more inclusive community. 7
ON THE MESA
Where I’m From As part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day program, designed by Dr. Stephanie Yeung, Cate students and faculty engaged in an activity designed around the popular poem by George Ella Lyon entitled “Where I’m From.” The following are a collection of these poems that reflect on our roots and give us a deeper understanding of our identities.
y Tuesday Talk cookies an m too e on amery g tin ea We are from pancakes to Cowgirl Cre ry ber ue bl e in Ma to ue eq We are from Texas Barb am rmesan and coffee ice cre We are from chicken pa d the Blue Mountains an es Pin e ho Ta om fr We are geas, cacti, and flour an dr hy , ea vill ain ug bo , We are from orchids ht, tsunami warnings, nig at ns sire , gs do g in s of bark We are from the sound crowds god horns, and cheering “Public Service Night!” -” s it’ so ay sd ne Wed s ’ We are from “It ads From squashing the to Veracross From Tuesday Talks and Ewe From Haiku to the Blue stables From Sable to tables to evacuation orders together om fr g nin ur ret om fr We are s ies to graduation goodbye on em Cer t nse Su om fr We are , off brand, and solo I am from plastic cups dark, dangerous, cold I am from the Bronx, d brittle to the touch, an I am from dying trees, Plant in concrete love I am from prayer and From Mother and God t afford it” From “Sorry” and “I can’ ringing I am from Church bells From a wet dirty city ans I am from rice and be up in From the shelter I grew and understand That made me stronger s on the wall Why we have no picture arts. ll always be in our he Because real family wi
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I am from fresh dough, from soy sauce and flour dust. I am from the broken pipes of the suburbs, aggressive, messy, taking my breath and holding me tight. I am from ginko trees, their leaves hanging like umbrellas, their berries too bitter to chew. I am from red dirt and stained freckles. From Leslie and the win. I am from memorizing Dr. Seuss and listening to old rock. From "don't eat that" and "use patience." I am from meditation, breathing in the new and releasing the old. I am from where the road crumbles, from green onions, Sichuan peppercorn. I am from airport terminals, the suitcase that never gets unpacked.
I am from my grandparents handkerchief From ice cream cake and mango shakes I am from the peaceful village of Maria Luisa Quiet, dreamy, palm trees I am from tall bamboo Always tall and swaying I am from eating too much and golden brown skin From Mama June and Lzarra I am from the loud laughter and playful teasing From witches with long tongues and tall evil robots I am from the island of cebu and the city of New York I am from fluffy pancakes and roasted pig From my brothers poofy hair in the morning My aunts hideous laugh Dark hallways with painted portraits 5-inch thick photo albums remind us of each other
I am from the city that never sleeps, Bustling, Loud, and quite breathtaking. I am from a place of sidewalks, Where concrete ap pears to go on fore ver. I am from the Apo llo, From the Langston Hughes, the Duke Elington, the Louis Armstrong, and A$AP ROCKY. I am from the hard work and the carin g, I am from Los Dom inicanos and Los Peruanos, Arroz Con Pollo an d Arroz Chaufa.
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ON THE MESA
Public Service Day By Matt McClenathen, Communications & Publications Specialist One day after celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Cate community turned their words into action as they ventured off the Mesa for Public Service Day. A lasting tradition at Cate dating back to the 1970s, students and faculty alike descend upon the neighboring communities to lend a helping hand. The day of service not only embraces the spirit of Servons, the school’s motto which translates to “Let us Serve,” but also fulfills one of the four pillars of the Cate mission statement. Typically held in February, Public Service Day moved this year to follow MLK Day, amplifying the connection of service and community. “Public Service Day is such a great reminder of what we get to accomplish here,” said Assistant Director of Admission David Soto '08. “The opportunity to make our local communities better is special. As an advisor, there’s nothing better than seeing an advisee work with young kids and seeing the impact they can have.” Ranging as far south as Oxnard and as far north as Goleta, Cate advisories dispersed to 37 local schools and nonprofit organizations to help with a variety
The Drew advisory helped paint for Explore Ecology at Cleveland Elementary School in Santa Barbara. 10
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of tasks from tutoring and gardening to cleaning and food sorting. For Director of Community Engagement Will Holmes, organizing this large scale event is much like a puzzle, but even after 16 years of doing so, it never gets old. “I feel privileged that I get to coordinate what is, for many advisories, their biggest number of hours together of the whole year, and that’s rich. Advisors look forward to it. Advisees look forward to it. Some advisories go as pairs, or in groups. It isn’t just the greater community engagement. It’s also the Cate engagement with each other.” Holmes takes great pride every year arranging the event that for many students is a break from the norm and a chance to spend time with their advisory. Aside from meeting once a week and sitting together during assembly, connecting off campus is rare. Grace Blankenhorn '20 echoed this sentiment while assisting with gardening at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. “Public Service Day is a great way to bond with our advisory. We usually don’t spend too much time outdoors together, so it is a good way to spend quality time while doing good work for the community.”
Renee and Pete Mack’s advisories help with landscaping at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
Charlotte Brownlee '85 and Lucy Van der Reis '21 assist the Santa Barbara Sea Center with a beach clean-up.
“ It’s great to get our kids off the Mesa and out into the real world helping others.” PETER MACK, ASSISTANT HEADMASTER FOR STUDENTS
Grace Blankenhorn '20 picks up leaves at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden on Public Service Day.
Ned Sigler '21 (left) and Asen Ou '22 make promotional videos for Arts from Scrap in Santa Barbara.
While cleaning toys, tables, and surfaces at the Carpinteria Library, Eswyn Gray '23 got to experience Public Service Day for the first time. “I think that we are very lucky to be going to the school that we are and to have all of these opportunities that we have. I think having the opportunity to give back to people is really special. I’ve gone to [Public Service Night] a few times. I like this because we can spend time with our advisory, and also, it’s a new environment.” Local organizations look forward to this day every year and, according to Holmes, often share rave reviews. Public Relations and Outreach Director of Explore Ecology Jill Cloutier, praised the efforts of the Cate students as they made
commercials on social media and crafted banners out of recycled material at Art from Scrap Creative ReUse Store in Santa Barbara. “Cate is amazing,” she said. “We can always count on the volunteers to be open, creative, positive, and friendly. They’ve been coming for years and years, and the projects are always quality and something we can use for our greater mission, which is really helpful.” Holmes has the pleasure of sharing the positive feedback with all of the advisories, and each year looks forward to swapping stories at the lunch table. From bonding with advisories to engaging with the community, Public Service Day continues to be a cherished tradition for all.
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ON THE MESA
Mark Metherell '87 Memorial Service Challenge Mark Metherell '87 was an inspirational figure to all those who knew him. A loving husband and father who always had time for others, he often spoke of helping those less fortunate. In 2008, Mark tragically passed away while training Iraqi special forces, and in 2009, his friends, classmates, and family created the Mark Metherell '87 Memorial Service Challenge. He was previously involved in the public service program while at Cate, and the grant in his honor awards two service projects for nearly $5,000 each. In recent years, projects have included creating a music program in Guatemala, installing a water filtration system in Southeast Asia, and enhancing sustainability for a local lacrosse program. With volunteerism, the potential to benefit others, vision, and sustainability as the primary criteria for selection, this year’s recipients were Rae Fox '21 and William Deardorff '21.
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Rae Fox '21
William Deardorff '21
“ I am beyond grateful for what the service challenge has allowed me to do this summer. Although I love playing and teaching the kids during my summers, I knew that all I was able to leave them with were fun memories and temporary happiness. However, this time when I left, I knew that I had left behind something sustainable and impactful. After my work this summer, I feel like I have finally come a little closer to repaying the orphanage for all the experiences and memories that it has given me.”
“I’m very proud of the way this project turned out at the school,” Will said. “I’m really happy to be a part of something that will make a long-lasting impact on the community. This structure absolutely filled a need in the community and will bring joy to the kids at Oasis for a long time.”
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think of ways to set the children up for success and teach them practical skills to use in the real world. With the Metherell service grant, she was able to turn this dream into a reality.
Every summer for the past 13 years, Rae Fox '21 has volunteered her time at the Prince of Peace Children’s Home, a special needs orphanage located in the rural Wuqing District of China. Nearly all of the children at the orphanage have Down syndrome, and once they turn 14, “age out” of the Chinese adoption system. As Rae got older, she began to
William Deardorff '21 first visited the small town of Vicente Guerrero in Baja California Norte as a freshman on vacation with his family. Just 175 miles south of the United States – Mexico Border, Vicente Guerrero is described by locals as trailing the rest of Mexico when it comes to its roads, schools, and public services due to its geographic isolation on the peninsula. It was here that William was first introduced to Oasis, a non-profit after-school program that serves over 150 kids with its mission to help children by “providing education, mentoring, nutrition, and love.” After spending time with the kids of Oasis playing soccer, William realized there were not enough opportunities in the town for physical activity. Upon noticing a sizable, unused space full of dirt and rocks, the idea for his Metherell service project was born. Combining his passion for sports and exercise to fill the need for the community, William embarked on a plan to build a playground. “For younger kids, playgrounds are the epitome of fun,” he said. “I remember when I was in elementary school, and it was time for recess, I would always
After observing the childrens’ talents for learning simple, repetitive tasks, Rae saw an opportunity to develop a laundry training facility – thus lightening the load of the overworked orphanage staff while giving the children a career path in housekeeping. With a connection established to the Pan Pacific Hotel, Rae went to work researching the most effective equipment to use and efficient methods to teach the kids. Following countless hours of setup and training, the project was a resounding success. “The children loved the task of doing laundry for the whole orphanage
because they finally felt empowered to do something themselves,” Rae said. Instilling independence and confidence in the kids has sparked plans to make this a sustainable model across other orphanages in China.
run out to try to be the first one on the playground. While I never knew Mark Metherell, it makes me happy to think that he would really have enjoyed what I did for this project in his name.” When the cost for the playground exceeded the amount provided by the grant, Kids Around the World, a non-profit that helps to repurpose old playgrounds from the U.S., stepped in and matched the funds provided by the Metherell grant. When it came time for installation in December, William took on a leadership role, helping direct the many volunteers during what he described as a “smooth process.” 13
ON THE MESA
Trevor Wallace '09
Convocation
Roundup By Katheryn Park, English Department Chair
Ruben Keoseyan “To practice journalism is to serve,” declared Ruben Keoseyan. Vice President of Content for Telemundo’s KVEA Los Angeles, Keoseyan addressed the Cate community on the evening of Monday, Dec. 9. Keoseyan referred to the Cate student population as “elusive” consumers who no longer access news through traditional mediums like print newspapers. Instead, the student demographic wants information on demand, most often accessed through social media. “Be cautious,” warned Keoseyan. “As consumers, you must understand what you are consuming. When opinion is ‘marbled’ into the news, you need to know.” According to Keoseyan, unless an opinion is clearly expressed in the editorial pages, then it does not belong in the practice of journalism. The profession, according to Keoseyan, is in a long moment of profound transition. Should news outlets focus on their core product, be it print, radio, or broadcast, or focus on digital content for the student demographic? Bella Lucente '21 asked Keoseyan what originally drew him to journalism. He was acting as a simultaneous translator for Santa Barbara’s KEYT during the original Painted Cave fire in June 1990. After inquiring about how the station was planning to spread the news to the Hispanic community, Keoseyan found himself thrust on camera. It was then that he realized that journalism served communities and he found his calling. Keoseyan encouraged Cate students to consider journalism as a career and mentioned NBC Universal for their incredible internships, especially for bilingual students. He also spoke to the students about their brand, asking “How do you want to be seen? He left the community with a call to action: “Be loyal, work hard, and be successful.” 14
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Cate graduate and documentary filmmaker Trevor Wallace '09, took the community on an adventure the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 18. An intrepid traveler, Wallace has spent time in the Arctic, Greenland, Kenya, and Siberia in the last few years. As a result of his adventures and the films he makes of them, Wallace was named one of 2018’s New Explorers of the Year by the venerable Explorers Club. Most recently, Wallace visited Siberia where he explored the culture of ancient Scythia on an archeological dig in the tombs in the Valley of the Czars. With his project partner, Dr. Gino Caspari, Wallace is documenting the rich culture of the Scythians--a nomadic warrior people--through their burial practices and places. He is producing a four-part documentary of the project with an original score. During his presentation, which included footage from the documentary, Cate students were able to follow as the archeologists practiced their painstaking work, uncovering golden treasures and wellpreserved bones in tiny increments, often with small brushes sweeping away the mud. By documenting the bones and other artifacts in situ, the archeologists can start to build a typology and make educated guesses about ritual meaning. Do the golden coils, like bridles, found in many skull mouths indicate a burial ritual related to the horses so essential to life for these nomadic people? Does the presence of a cowrie shell reveal trade routes to the ocean, some 3,000 years ago? After sharing his work of exploring, archeology, and filmmaking with the Cate community, Wallace left the students with an exhortation: make sure you have a purpose, and then BE BOLD in everything you do. Wallace’s life is a testament to the rewards.
Dr. Charles Elachi Blast off! The Cate community was invited to space on Monday, Feb. 24, courtesy of Dr. Charles Elachi. Dr. Elachi, a professor emeritus at CalTech and longtime director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, has overseen 24 space missions, including landing multiple rovers on Mars. He has spent his career wondering about the possibility of life beyond Earth, out there among the billions and billions of stars.
Dan Devone What should you do? Please put it down! Dan Devone led the Cate community in a call-and-response on Monday, Jan. 27. Devone, an Emmy-winning sports broadcaster, now travels the country speaking to audiences about conversation in the age of technology. He noted that 93% of all communication is non-verbal. “As human beings, we are hard-wired to recognize nuance, cadence, tone, and facial expressions. None of which can be communicated by an email or text,” he noted.
Dr. Elachi showed slides of the Cassini orbiter that has been investigating the liquid ocean under the surface of Enceladus, an ice satellite of Saturn. The surface of the satellite shows geysers shooting out 50-mile high plumes with organic materials. Could there have been life at one time in this hidden ocean? Or perhaps on Europa, another ice satellite with a liquid ocean below the crust, this one orbiting Jupiter? NASA plans to launch a Europa lander to explore these questions and more in the next decade. Dr. Elachi showed slides of Mars, as well. With a similar geology to some spots on Earth, Mars has indications of water flow from a few billion years ago. Did life ever evolve here? If not, why not? A Mars rover that will be launched this July from JPL will have a drone—the first one to ever visit the red planet. His excitement palpable, Dr. Elachi urged Cate students to be curious. Whether in art, in music, or—following his example—in space, to be an explorer is the highest calling.
“ As human beings, we are hard-wired to recognize nuance, cadence, tone, and facial expressions. None of which can be communicated by an email or text.” Devone drew a parallel between the last decade’s introduction of the smartphone, the spike in social media, and a mental health crisis that has people suffering from loneliness, detachment, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. His solution is balance. He offered a challenge to Cate students: can they take one day per week off from social media? Devone suggests taking off Saturday; the name of the challenge is See You On Sunday, spearheaded by Los Angeles Charger Isaac Rochell. Devone has taken the challenge and described the sense of freedom he felt when he cut ties to social media at least once each week. 15
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Dance Convocation: Journey of the Heart The Cate Dance Ensemble took the community on a Journey of the Heart on Monday, Feb. 10. The 27 dancers opened the performance with a highenergy ensemble piece appropriately titled “Dream Big!” The hour that followed highlighted solos, small groups, and ensemble pieces in a wide variety of moods. The lighting designers—Spencer Michaels '20, Dawson Fuss '22, and guest collaborator Dan Lyon— dramatically added to the ambience of each piece. As the show unfolded, the movement of the large, opening ensemble was drastically contrasted by the dance that followed, a dramatic solo on the aerial hoop by Lucky Drucker '22. The intensity of this piece was contrasted by the following quartet of dancers— Jinny Chung '22, Charlotte He '22, Ashi Kamra '22, and Anna-Sung Park '22—who performed a K-pop
Eswyn Gray '23 takes center stage during the piece “Community.”
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number to a smash hit by Blackpink. So the evening went, with each dance providing punctuation to the ones before and after. Solos included “Family Loyalty” by Rae Fox '21 and “Fighting Insecurities” by Athena Von Bothmer '21. Jae Hall-Collins '23 and Blake Donalson '23, Dawson Fuss '22, and Frankie Nieman '21 danced “Enduring Battles” to the pounding of tribal war drums, punctuating their movements with sounds from eight-foot-long wooden sticks. At one point, dancers were joined by the a capella singers of Last Call, who performed a live version of “Don’t Dream It’s Over” to accompany 13 dancers in a piece called
“Community.” Of the 27 dancers in the Cate Dance Ensemble, only four are seniors. These four—Georgina Omaboe '20, Avery Ransom '20, Jackson Weinberger '20, and Megan Wong '20— danced for the last time together on stage in a moving number called “Goodbyes,” which ended with the seniors rolling suitcases off stage. The performance closed as it opened with a whirl of all of the members of the dance ensemble. In a flourish of pink satin skirts and golden vests, with gold belts flashing under the lights, the dancers spun and moved together in “Celebrating Self Confidence,” the perfect ending to a wonderful show.
The Cate Dance Ensemble comes together to perform a lift during the piece “Hope.”
Lucky Drucker '22 enthralls the audience during her aerial hoop solo “Enlightenment.”
In the male piece entitled “Enduring Battles,” Jae HallCollins '23 dances to the sound of tribal war drums.
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Daniel Cherry III '96
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Chief Marketing Officer of Activision Blizzard and Cate alumnus, Daniel Cherry III '96, returned to the Mesa to impart his wisdom during Convocation on Monday, Feb. 3. In a quotable talk, Cherry touched on his experience at Cate and the lasting connections he made while taking a deep dive into his philosophies of life.
“Live open. Fail fast.” Another nugget of knowledge from Cherry encouraged the Cate community to take risks and learn to accept failure as an avenue for growth. He implored the Cate community to challenge the status quo and inspired the audience to achieve greatness, rather than rightness.
Cherry’s single most important piece of advice was to value experience over theory. He conveyed that people may not remember what they learn, but they remember what they lived. People can learn a lot from distinguished individuals, yet it is through experiences that they gain perspective.
Fully embracing the Servons spirit, Cherry asked, “How can we help each other achieve greatness?”
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“If I can, you can If you can, we can We can and we will…together.”
Los Niños Service Trip
Students learn about beekeeping and harvesting honey, which serves as a means for monetary income for Los Niños.
By Will Holmes, Director of Community Engagement Cate School has been going on Los Niños service-learning trips to Mexico for decades and in recent years has sent two Cate groups per year. More than 90 students submitted their names for these coveted spots and there was a random name drawing for each trip. 24 people including three Cate adults go on each trip. While in Mexico, the groups spend time helping in communities in need as well as learning about life on the Mexican side of the border. The experiences are memorable both within the Cate group and certainly with the people we engage with. Community members work join the work projects whether laying concrete or painting playgrounds. Brenda and Esteban were the student trip leaders this school year.
Francesca Castellarin '22 and Ella Gardner '22 bond with children from the local community.
Students help mix cement at the local orphanage.
By Brenda Martinez Ruiz '21
By Esteban Paulino '21
There were so many parts of this trip that made it so special. One of my favorite parts of the trip was on Friday night. A group of students asked if we could go to the little store a couple streets from the house so we went with two of the adults. As we were walking to the store, we saw a group of guys around our age playing soccer at a park and we wanted to join them. We were nervous but a couple of students mustered up the courage to ask if we could play with them. About 15 minutes later, most of us were playing soccer and laughing, asking for five more minutes every time the teachers told us it was time to go. That night showed me how it’s possible to make connections with people even when there is a language barrier. That same concept was seen throughout the weekend, when we were at the orphanage and playing soccer with the kids from another community.
This year, my group was full of newcomers; only five of the total 21 members had taken the trip before. The highlight of my trip was the traditional game of Los Niños charades. It was fun to see how people’s expressions changed before, during, and after the game, because most newcomers think it’s lame or childish, but they quickly realized how competitive and fun it can be. It was also a great way to get to know one another since we all had to work together to solve the clues. After the game, we are all exhausted, but thankful to have played. The Los Niños trips are one of my favorite experiences at Cate and I cannot recommend enough that everyone sign up and try to go at least once during their Cate career!
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ON THE MESA
Round
Square By Parker May '20 During the spring of my junior year (2019), I traveled with a group of four other students and two faculty members to Lima, Peru where we attended a Round Square regional conference. This 10-day excursion filled with service, adventure, and environmentalism was at the core of the Round Square IDEALS. I was fortunate to stay with a gracious host family who consisted of a boy in my grade, his older brother, his parents, and their tiny dog, Vasco. For the service portion of the conference, we built houses for families who had been affected
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by a devastating earthquake, leaving their town in ruins. In addition to this heartwarming and rewarding process, our group of seven delegates from Cate was able to immerse themselves in the Peruvian culture by trying new foods like picarones, learning how to dance (the real way), and spending quality time with our host families. The experience is one I won’t soon forget. After returning from this incredible journey I was inspired to do even more with Round Square. This year I am the student head of the Round Square board at Cate, which consists of seven other students and Cate’s Round Square faculty representative, Mr. Holmes. Despite differences in size, resources, curriculum, and geographic location, the approximately 200 Round Square schools across 50 different countries all follow the same set of guiding principles. The acronym
IDEALS stands for Internationalism, Democracy, Environmentalism, Adventure, Leadership, and Service. Both the Round Square conferences and the experience on campus mirror these six values in many of their traditions and events. This year Cate had the opportunity to send six students to an international conference in Indore, India, where 1,000 delegates from around the world (the largest conference to date!) were hosted by one Round Square school. Throughout the week, they worked on service projects, immersed themselves in Indian culture, and discussed the theme of the conference: “The World We Wish to See.” Rachel Ma '22 spent the first few weeks of March on exchange in Lima, Peru where she attended Markham College. This was a reciprocal exchange since
Cate hosted an exchange student from Markham from January to February. Majo Fon lived with a Cate day student family, attended sophomore classes, and played on the water polo team. Looking ahead, we are excited to send students on future Round Square opportunities including service projects, exchange, and conferences. On campus, there have been two main events hosted by the Round Square board. The first was Club Fair in which we worked with the Student-Faculty Senate to organize and set up tables for the School’s clubs on Senior Lawn. In this manner, the students could sign up with the various clubs Cate had to offer. It is always exciting to see new students go from table to table, talking with club heads and their friends about which clubs they want to join. This event is a great way to start the year. The second event hosted by the Round Square board is the Food Fair, which was held on the last S-Friday of February. Over fifteen different groups of people volunteered to cook dishes from places they’ve traveled to or their country of origin. Conveniently located in the McIntosh Room, the community was invited to try samples of all of the foods ranging from boba to steak to alfajores and much more. The spirit and enthusiasm were great as the students represented their home nation or even state with immense pride. Cate looks forward to sending many more students off to Round Square conferences, exchanges, and service projects worldwide and to host events such as Club and Food Fairs in our celebration of Cate’s cultural diversity.
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ON THE MESA
Winter
sports By Matt Drew, Assistant Athletic Director
Another exciting athletic season came to an end in mid February. The winter season concluded with four teams qualifying for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Playoffs. In the end, all four would bow out to tough competition but not before battling to the very end. We also saw history on the squash courts with the first-ever section title. Our student-athletes made the Cate community incredibly proud over these past few months. The BOYS SOCCER team had a phenomenal year going 10-0-1 through the regular season en route to a Tri-Valley League Championship. After an opening round victory over rival Thacher to start CIF play, the Rams traveled to Valley Christian School in Cerritos, Calif. where they unfortunately suffered their first and only loss of the season. “Our season ending this way is a bitter pill to swallow,” said Coach Peter Mack. It truly was an incredible season from the boys and the ending does not seem like the proper conclusion for this group. The seven seniors on the team were a major factor in the team’s success, and they 22
CATE B ULLET IN / S PRING 2020
BOYS SOCCER
will be sorely missed – co-captains Buba Fofanah '20, Harry Corman '20, and Devin Pai '20, along with Parker Bowlin '20, Will Anderson '20, Bryce Jackson '20, and Theo Mack '20. GIRLS SOCCER followed up their
standout season from a year ago, which included a league championship, with another wonderful showing. The team moved up a league due to their success last season, meaning a tougher schedule that could have been discouraging to many teams. However, not only did the team not worry about their placement, but they came within one game of a second-place finish in league play. Even with their near miss of second place, they were still able to secure a CIF playoff berth. The girls traveled to Malibu High School to take on the Sharks in what would be an incredibly exciting but unfortunate end to the season for the Lady Rams. A beautifully fought game saw the team lose in heartbreaking fashion when a Malibu player put a ball home in the final minutes of play. Much like the boys soccer team, this was an incredible season for the Lady Rams and
nothing for them to hang their head about. We will miss our five seniors – co-captains Neema Mugofwa '20, Kim Rogers '20, and Grace Blankenhorn '20, as well as Lea De Vylder '20 and Finnian Whelan '20. BOYS BASKETBALL had an impressive run that began with tough tournaments matchups against the likes of Rio Mesa, Buena, and Pacific – all schools enrolling at least five times the number of students at Cate. These early season tests showed that this team was indeed built for CIF competition, and with a second-place finish in league, they found themselves back in the playoffs. Unfortunately for the Rams, they ran into a very skilled Eastside team in the first round. Despite a phenomenal effort from the boys, it was not enough to knock off an eventual semi-final team. After the difficult loss, Coach Andy Gil said, “I am tremendously proud of our guys. Having moved up a couple of divisions for playoffs this year we competed with a very good team and can carry our heads high.” It is never
GIRLS BASKETBALL
easy to see seniors play their final game, but these seniors made a lasting impact on the basketball program – co-captains Khadim Pouye '20, Ethan Ng '20, and Thomas Nettesheim '20, along with Parker May '20, John Shelburne '20, and Scott Holmes '20. The GIRLS BASKETBALL team saw the most success at the end of the season. After losing their first two games of the season, the team went on an 11-game winning streak on their way to a league title and a berth in the CIF playoffs. After two thrilling victories over Costa Mesa and Capistrano Valley, the Lady Rams faced a Marshall team that was just a little too much on that day. The ball was just not finding the bottom of the net for Cate and it seemed as if everything was falling on the other end of the floor. In their three postseason contests, the team faced schools that had total enrollments of over 6,000 students. It was a remarkable run that was appreciated by every member of this community, which was evident by the standing ovation in the final seconds of
their quarterfinal loss. As Coach Laura Moore stated, “The tremendous support from students, faculty, and families was so heartwarming. This team has worked tirelessly week after week since early November and they were so deserving of the spectacular support that you all showed them.” A great group of seniors depart having left the program in a great place – co-captains Maya Blattberg '20 and Piper Brooks '20, as well as Maya Fenelon '20, Jess Yang '20, Natasha Weiss '20, and Dana Husten-Chen '20. The GIRLS WATER POLO team finished the season playing some of their best games. With only one senior on the squad, the team showed immense growth from all members in skill and work ethic. Freshmen Lylie Bechtel '23, Stella Meister '23, Liz Sutter '23, and Myla van Lynde '23 made incredible strides in their game and are looking forward to what they can accomplish next year. A huge thank you to lone senior Marissa Strauss '20 for her incredible leadership and congratulations on a great four year career.
GIRLS WATER POLO
The SQUASH team, although not a CIF sport, plays contests throughout the winter season against opposing schools and club teams. It is a unique high school athletic experience for those athletes, one that takes up many of their weekends with long trips and 12-hour days. All of that hard work and travel was more than worth it this year as the team accomplished something that no other Cate or high school team had ever done – win the Southern California Squash Championships. The Rams were the first true high school team, meaning every member was a student at that school, to win the title. This was truly a remarkable feat for the group of five student-athletes who worked so hard to get to that point – co-captains Brandon Man '20 and Ryan Suh '20, Athena and Ophelia Ke '20, and Morgan Liu '20. With an exceptional season in the books, we won’t soon forget the hard work, sportsmanship, teamwork, and overall joy the winter student-athletes brought to the Mesa.
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ON THE MESA
SQUASH
GIRLS SOCCER
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BOYS BASKETBALL
Scholastic
Art Awards For almost 100 years, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have identified students with exceptional creative ability. Approximately half a million pieces are submitted each year to be evaluated on their originality, technical skill, and personal voice or vision. There are three honors awarded on the regional level: Gold Key – The very best works submitted. Gold
Key works are automatically considered for national-level recognition.
Silver Key – Stand-out
exceptional ability.
works that demonstrate
Honorable Mention – Accomplished
great skill and potential.
works showing
The following is a sampling of winning pieces.
Scott Holmes '20
Gold Key Colors of the Earth
Grace Johnson '21
Claudia Schmidt '22
Gold Key Three Apples
Gold Key Bed of Roses
25
ON THE MESA Gigi Geyer '23
Silver Key Gleaming Town
Josie Erickson '21
Honorable Mention Suzanne
Maya Fenelon '20
Silver Key A Child’s Perspective
Beloved Devore '22
Honorable Mention Headless Intellectual
Nick Parker '21
Silver Key Rectangular Vase
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CATE B ULLET IN / S PRING 2020
Spencer Michaels '20
Gold Key Article 31 #4
Jolea Moes '21
Megan Wong '20
Silver Key This Lady’s Chair
Gold Key Growth
Ella Chang '23
Grace Burroughs '21
Gold Key Walk Tall
Honorable Mention Vases
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ON THE MESA
2019-20 Scholastic Art Awards HONORABLE MENTIONS Daanish Ahmad '22 “Ezekiel, the Marvelous Empath” • Science Fiction & Fantasy Liza Borghesani '20 “Epilimnion” • Personal Essay & Memoir Grace Burroughs '21 “Monstera Noir” • Drawing & Illustration “Vases” • Painting Chidera Chukwumerije '22 “My People” • Personal Essay & Memoir Lea De Vylder '20 “Film Strip” • Printmaking Beloved Devore '22 “Headless Intellectual” • Drawing & Illustration Josephine Erickson '21 “Suzanne” • Drawing & Illustration Charlotte He '22 “Selfish Love” • Poetry Lukas Hendriks '22 “Impetus Brand Identity” • Design Scott Holmes '20 “Easter Egg” • Ceramics & Glass “Blue Teardrops” • Ceramics & Glass Grace Johnson '21 “Bubble” • Photography Ryan Lack '21 “Grounded” • Poetry Rachel Ma '22 “Want 2 Eat” • Drawing & Illustration Spencer Michaels '20 “Article 31, #8” • Photography
Lea De Vylder '20
Honorable Mention Film Strip
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CATE B ULLET IN / S PRING 2020
Nick Parker '21 “Orange Vase” • Ceramics & Glass “Serving Dish” • Ceramics & Glass Alyssa Queensborough '20 “Be a Lady” • Poetry Ned Sigler '21 “Love Through the Fog” • Flash Fiction Ruth Wecker '20 “Izzy's Arms” • Painting Natasha Weiss '20 “With These Limbs” • Painting “Wait For Me” • Sculpture Jessica Yang '20 “Time Passes, Leaves Fall” • Photography Timothy Zhang '22 “Game of Thrones Poster” • Digital Art SILVER KEY Ella Chang '23 “Too Many Hats” • Photography Maya Fenelon '20 “City Intersection” • Photography “A Child’s Perspective” • Photography
Jolea Moes '21 “The Lady’s Chair” • Painting Nick Parker '21 “Brown Bottle #1” • Ceramics & Glass “Brown Bottle #2” • Ceramics & Glass “Rectangular Vase” • Ceramics & Glass Vania Zhao '20 “Arachnid Wrath” • Personal Essay & Memoir GOLD KEY Ella Chang '23 “Walk Tall” • Photography Jinny Chung '22 “Ballad: The Job” • Poetry Grace Geyer '23 “Flashlight Painting” • Photography Scott Holmes '20 “Melting Sun” • Ceramics & Glass “Colors of the Earth” • Ceramics & Glass Grace Johnson '21 “Three Apples” • Painting Spencer Michaels '20 “Article 31, #4” • Photography
Grace Geyer '23 “Gleaming Town” • Photography
Asen Kim Ou '22 “UNI SINK” • Architecture & Industrial Design
Lukas Hendriks '22 “Australian Aboriginal Punk Concert Poster: Diaspora” • Design
Claudia Schmidt '22 “Bed of Roses” • Painting
Scott Holmes '20 “Dark Blue Bulb” • Ceramics & Glass “Tenmoku Bottle” • Ceramics & Glass Grace Johnson '21 “Freckles” • Printmaking “Norway: Old Keys” • Drawing & Illustration “An Evening in Elverum” • Photography
Sidney Suh '22 “Femininity as a Female Euphonist” • Personal Essay & Memoir Megan Wong '20 “Growth” • Digital Art Vania Zhao '20 “Dinggedicht Quest: Two Narratives of Canes” • Poetry
Gigi Geyer '23
Silver Key Flashlight Painting
Ruth Wecker '20
Honorable Mention Izzy’s Arms
caption
Rachel Ma '22
Honorable Mention Want 2 Eat Natasha Weiss '20
Honorable Mention With These Limbs
Asen Ou '22 caption
Gold Key Uni Sink
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FEATURE
Wellness at CATE By Charlotte Brownlee '85, Assistant Head of School for External Affairs
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Alumni often ask how the School has changed since their era. Even if you graduated as recently as 2010, one of the biggest differences at Cate today is the increased depth and breadth of student support services that are offered. These range from counseling and mental health support to peer support groups and grade-level programming. This development is not unique to Cate, however. In comparing Cate’s level of staffing for student support services, we find that Cate is in line with our peer set of boarding schools in the array of services and support that we offer.
It appears that incidents of depression have been well-linked to conditions including a lack of connections to others and excessive screen time. To better understand this situation, Cate’s Director of Student Services Erin Hansen recommended the Cate faculty read IGen by Jean M. Twenge. A deep dive into the lives of teens and college students and specifically the mental health challenges they face, Twenge explores the forces – from smartphones to helicopter parents – that are influencing the way kids feel today. The author notes, “In a major overtime survey administered by the American Collegiate Health Association, college students are now more likely to say they feel overwhelming anxiety and they felt so depressed they could not function.” While the topic of teen depression intrigued Hansen, she was more interested in exploring the forces that lead to well-being, counterbalancing the forces that lead to depression. Now in her fifth year at Cate, Hansen is also in her second year of a Klingenstein independent school leadership program
where she is working towards a Masters in Educational Leadership. Her thesis project is exploring methods for creating a sense of belonging among students. Research shows that academic achievement is higher when students report a sense of belonging (O’Connor, 2018). Hansen explains that the quest for a young person to feel like they are part of something is age-appropriate. “Every teenager is asking ‘what is this place and do I fit in?’” she said. In her research, questions teens explore when trying to determine if they belong include: “Does anyone notice me?,” “Are there people here with whom I connect?,” “Do people value me?,” and “Is this a setting in which I want to belong?” Independent schools like Cate are uniquely able to create an environment that helps students answer these questions in the affirmative. They are designed to be close-knit communities that provide individualized attention.
One of the most powerful elements in developing a sense of belonging for adolescents is being known by teachers. Research has identified strong social relationships among peers and positive relationships between students and teachers as among the most important in belonging. (St. Amand, Girard & Smith, 2017). In a place like Cate where students are known by many more than one person, it is interesting to wonder if the benefits accrue in even greater measure. Hansen joined Cate from Carpinteria High School where she chaired the English department. “Coming from a public school where there were clear limits to the relationships and mentorship I could provide to my students, I knew I wanted to work at an independent boarding school where I could live life alongside my students and partner with them to create the culture of that school,” she said. Entering the Klingenstein program at Columbia Teachers’ College was a powerful way for her to accelerate her understanding of the independent school world. She 31
FEATURE
4 BELONGING Characteristics of
1
A feeling of intimacy and a sense of pride
2
Positive relationships with peers and teachers
3
Willingness to get involved in a meaningful way
4
Harmonization: must adapt and adjust personal aspects to align with the culture
what contributed to their sense of belonging the most, more than 2/3 of our students indicated that it was their relationship with other students. The data showed that Cate is a place where people are clearly welcomed (93%), treated with respect by their peers (81%), and are developing strong friendships that make them feel valued (88%). In addition to the peer to peer relationship, the majority of Cate students agreed they have adults they can go to when they have a problem (85%) and are valued by their teachers both in and outside of their classroom (90%). With statistics like this, it is no wonder that alumni return each year to attend Camp Cate and that relationships between students and faculty extend far beyond graduation.
Student Survey Results
Director of Student Services Erin Hansen has been conducting research in an effort to increase the sense of belonging among students.
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partners with four other administrators and teachers from four independent schools across the country to study the relationship between academics, extracurricular activities, and student relationships to an overall sense of belonging for historically marginalized groups in independent schools.
Survey which was administered in May 2019. The Huron survey highlighted some concerns among students around their sense of belonging at Cate, so Hansen’s work seemed like a good way to inform how the School evaluated its response to Huron and the work that has gone into this year.
As part of this work, Hansen surveyed all Cate students in November 2019. This was timely, as the survey served as a useful follow-up to the all-school Huron
The encouraging news from Hansen’s recent survey was that students report feeling seen and being part of something bigger than themselves. When asked
CATE B ULLET IN / S PRING 2020
93%
Cate is a place where people are welcomed
81%
are treated with respect by their peers
88%
are developing strong friendships
85%
have adults they can go to with a problem
90%
are valued by their teachers
The Student Services team, which includes the Dean of Students, the Director of Health Services, Counseling, works together to deliver a comprehensive approach to supporting student well-being. Communication and sharing of information with students through a new newsletter called In the Loop has allowed staff and students to work together to create and distribute content on a regular basis. In addition, #InYourCorner is a new resource page in the School’s learning management platform with links to a wide array of mental health resources and support. (continued on pg 35)
A Conversation on Wellness with Student Body President Avery Ransom '20 2. The article mentions you ran for office on a platform around increasing support for mental health. Tell us a little more about that.
Natasha Weiss '20 and I recognized how stressed and anxious our classmates were feeling in our junior year. Then, looking at a bunch of other high schools and colleges, we realized how this mental health issue isn’t something that is impacting our school alone – the rise of stress and anxiety in high school students is, in fact, a generational crisis.
1. What are some of the primary mental health and wellness challenges that high school students are facing today?
It is hard to say that high school students as a collective face one mental health or wellness challenge per se. However, with the rise of social media intake in high school students, I believe there has been an increase in anxiety and depression. Numerous scientists and psychologists have corroborated this observation. My classmates and I tend to feel as though we are missing out when someone is attending an event without us. In addition to depression and anxiety, I also see the stress levels in students increasing as the years go by. Many components contribute to this, including workload and how students are managing it. These high levels of stress can also put a strain on friends and family relations.
When Natasha and I made mental health our platform, we received many questions and comments along the lines of, “How can you possibly solve a generational crisis?” Our goal was not to solve a generational issue but to enable specifically Cate School students and faculty with tools to mitigate this problem and support our classmates schoolwide. We decided that we wanted to form a student-led mental support group called SPACE, which would support students with issues regarding stress, anxiety, and family and friend relationships. Members of the group are trained by professional therapists from Cate and held to the same code of confidentiality as any other therapist. This is one of our first steps. We have also decided to work closer than ever with the academic department chairs to make sure that homework and assessments are fair to not only the teacher but the student. It takes a lot of time and coordination to make many of these things happen, and SPACE is still in the works to this day. We believe that building a solid foundation for the years to come is much more important than rushing and creating something that would only last for a year.
3. How have the student support services evolved during your time at Cate?
Student support services have grown and evolved for the better. We have a new therapist on campus, Dean’a Curry, and she is spectacular! Many students have been reaching out to Dean’a as well as Wendy McFarland when they need mental health support. They are also just great people to talk to in the dining hall casually. Student support services have certainly been more receptive to the needs of the students. From creating a page called #InYourCorner, which directs students to the resources they need for both academic and social issues, to fortifying the freshman/sophomore seminar’s curriculum to fit the needs of the students. Student support services are continuously working to evolve and make reforms to their department so that they can support Cate students as much as possible. 4. How has the student body responded to these changes?
The student body has responded positively to these changes! Many students visit Dean’a and Wendy weekly, and many are maintaining contact with them even though we are all away from Cate right now. The student body has been feeling more influential by advocating for themselves and other classmates. Natasha and I have tried to be spokeswomen for our classmates as well as allow them to speak for themselves and let the faculty know what would be best for them. All of the changes that happened this year helped to forge a stronger bond and rebuild bridges of trust between students and faculty.
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FEATURE 5. Talk more about your role in helping to establish new programs at Cate. What was the collaborative process with the faculty like?
I think my role in establishing new programs at Cate indeed stems from the fantastic Student Senate team Natasha and I have at Cate. We all set ourselves to the goal of fortifying our communication with the faculty and doing more community outreach. To this day, we
are doing both of those things! Regarding the collaboration process with faculty, it feels very effective, as if creativity and passion is bouncing off of the walls at every meeting. Usually, we try to set an agenda and then always make time for an action plan to be produced. Natasha and I take pride in always having something new to bring to the table at every meeting. It is a pleasure and an honor to work with the faculty members and students.
Anything else we should mention?
This year has been fantastic across the board in terms of student leadership. The prefects, teacher’s assistants, Senate members, my Vice President, and I have worked arduously to make this year a year that many will remember and love. Hopefully, we can pass this energy down to the next student leaders at Cate School.
Q&A with Director of Counseling, Dean’a Curry to release stress, increase self-awareness, and build self-esteem. Most importantly, when students are surrounded by a network of trusted relationships, they feel safe.
Tell us about some of the initiatives you’ve spearheaded in the last year.
1. At the start of the year, I had the good fortune of working with the Prefects and TA’s by providing psychoeducation lessons to help prepare them to work with underclassmen. 2. In October, I presented to the faculty on mental health trends and provided an overview with additional context around the significant increases in anxiety and depression among teens. I also covered actions we can take to support our students in order to help reduce these trends. 3. A few months ago, I provided a skillsbased mental health first aid training to the School’s nursing staff that addressed how to triage students in the midst of a mental health crisis. I also collaborated with Director of Health Services Natalie Jackel to implement a Mental Health Crisis protocol, and we continue to work closely to ensure student wellness. 4. In an effort to cast a wider net to the student-body, I created a web-based mental health resource portal called #InYourCorner where students can find a wide array of mental health services including crisis hotlines, individual psychotherapy supports, inspirational messages, and mindfulness tips.
My eclectic approach to wellness extends outside of counseling sessions, as I provide psychoeducation to students, faculty, and staff in various forms.
Going forward, I’m excited about potential future initiatives that will empower the Cate community to further strengthen its support of student wellness.
In my counseling sessions with students, I try to create a safe, confidential, and empathetic place where they are able to check in and discuss their concerns without fear of judgement. I believe withholding judgement is critical to conveying true empathy, building trust, and cultivating a stronger relationship. How have you tried to impact student wellness at Cate?
Cate’s students, faculty, and staff are imbued with substance and wisdom, and I’m grateful for the interactions I have each day with all of them. In my counseling sessions with students, I am constantly impressed with their maturity and openness. Part of my long-term vision for wellness in our community is for it to be a place where students truly feel a sense of belonging. But what does “a sense of belonging” really mean? To start, I believe it’s important for students to be fully seen as well-rounded human beings and not just as vessels for academic or athletic achievement. When students feel heard, validated, and understood, they are able
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CATE B ULLET IN / S PRING 2020
Once trust has been formed with a student, I take an eclectic therapeutic approach that draws on numerous approaches in psychotherapy, including cognitive behavioral (especially reframing), dialectical behavioral, depth psychology, and narrative therapy. These approaches are initially driven by an underlying question: what does the student need in this moment? After that question has been answered, I begin working with students from a strengthsbased framework in which we first focus on their existing positive attributes.
Have Cate students driven any of the new programming and support you provide?
Earlier this year, I collaborated with Cate’s student body president Avery Ransom '20 who worked very hard to create SPACE. Avery asked me to provide guidance to the student committee, and we met often to discuss ways in which we can collaborate to meet student needs. These meetings helped me become more aware of the current climate of student mental health at Cate, and our discussions help inform the creation of the resource page #InYourCorner. What is your own personal wellness approach?
Like my approach with Cate students, my personal wellness approach is eclectic. Lately, because of the stress I’ve been feeling that’s associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve tried to consciously create little “pockets of comfort.” One “pocket of comfort” is physical exercise. I love to take vigorous walks and hikes with my daughter, Keaton, and my two dogs, Lily and Che. Like many people, I draw so many benefits from being outdoors, recharging in nature, and engaging in a bit of eco-therapy. Another “pocket of comfort” is staying in close contact with family, and reconnecting with old friends. As I try to balance work, home-schooling, and other responsibilities, I have to remind myself to slow down and rest, as this is something I have struggled with in the past. But through practicing mindfulnessstress-based reduction (MBSR) and adopting some of the simple principles by Jon Kabat Zinn, I have often been able to build little “pockets” of calm - but this doesn’t always work out perfectly, and so I continue to work on this daily! Ultimately, I am not fixed to one set approach as it relates to wellness. One guiding question I’ve found helpful to ask myself is “What do I need in this moment?” Then, I take it from there.
Recently the Student Services group held a fishbowl activity to help faculty better understand the student experience, in their own words. Faculty sat silently around a circle of students who spoke candidly about their feelings around stress, homework, and other aspects of school life. Each group was facilitated by an adult, and the faculty subsequently met to debrief what they heard and create suggestions for improvements.These fishbowls revealed three areas most demanding attention: lack of sleep, the need for greater balance, and better coordination of homework and major assignments across classes. Student input on the design and substance of support systems has been essential in building a robust program. The current student body president, Avery Ransom '20, ran for her office on a platform around both normalizing and increasing support for student mental health. She has been instrumental in setting up a system of peer support and providing regular feedback to the Student Services team on student mental health. Training for the prefects and teaching assistants has also changed to include topics such as inclusion, academic skills, and mental health training. The prefects have committed themselves to building morale with more community-centric activities and a renewed attention to dorm pride. For several years the Human Development department has been working to make their program responsive to the changing needs of Cate’s students. While still focused on exploring each student’s role in
the community, the sophomore program has evolved to include concrete areas of exploration. The social justice unit demonstrates how to make an impact on one’s community and the outdoors emphasizes building skills for working in teams under challenging conditions. A new Human Development trimester-long course in the junior year called Vision Into Practice works to build leadership skills among the class in preparation for their senior year. Because every student can serve the community in meaningful ways, the program is designed to bring out every students’ ability to make an impact on the Cate community. Because the needs of students are constantly changing, the program that Cate delivers is also in a state of constant evolution. A regular system of surveying helps the Student Services team inform their work, and by using data about topics such as how often students use the various services, sick days, and attendance, the team is able to identify individual students needing attention. All of this work is in service of the goal of taking the best care possible of every student. One of the many benefits of being an independent school is the freedom to construct a fouryear progression that develops the skills most important for leading a robust and successful life. This is accomplished not in isolation, but side by side with adults and students in dialogue, working to build a Cate community where every person feels a deep sense of belonging. Given that research shows simply having one adult who cares for a student leads to greater well-being, can we measure the impact of having 10?
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FEATURE
Cate & Carpinteria
A Century of
Connections
More involved than ever before, Cate School has remained committed to strengthening local ties – and as a result – seen its relationship with Carpinteria flourish. By Matt McClenathen, Communications & Publications Specialist
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P
erched atop the Mesa, overlooking the seaside city below, Cate School can trace its roots to Carpinteria all the way back to 1914. Back then, founder Curtis Wolsey Cate and the 21 boys that attended at the time, would ride their horses into town to buy soda from the local drug store. Fast forward to the present day, and while the horses are gone – replaced with golden GMC Yukons – the connection between the two communities remains. In fact, in recent years, this connection has only grown stronger as Cate establishes a deeper bond with the city that has hosted the School for over a century. “Cate is a great partner to Carpinteria,” says Hallie Greene, the School’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, who has worked at Cate for eight years, and lived in Carpinteria for the past five. “My Carpinteria community is different from my Cate community, but for those keeping track, the relationship is definitely growing.” With a long-lasting tradition of public service, there is no denying the involvement in the community. From the annual Public Service Day to the weekly Public Service Night, Director of Community Engagement Will Holmes has led the charge for much of Cate’s exposure into its neighboring town. Weekly regulars at local group homes – some of whom Cate have been visiting for nearly 40 years – students play games and volunteer their time, exhibiting the culture of Servons. Executive Director of Girls, Inc. Jamie Balch Collins spoke recently on the connection between Cate and Carpinteria during this year’s Public Service Day in January.
37
FEATURE
Did You Know? Cate volunteers at about 10 Carpinteria organizations on Public Service Day. In addition to students volunteering, we also share resources with the public schools in town like textbooks, binders, and sports equipment. The principals are always eager to receive our support whether people or materials. It feels wonderful to share and deepen the connections between our schools. We are also weekly regulars at local group homes such as Cornerstone House, where students sing to the residents, and Shepard Place where Cate students call and play Bingo with the residents. When we arrive at Shepard, the elder residents and students often greet one another with hugs before the games begin. They volunteer their time and develop relationships that transcend the generations. - Will Holmes, Director of Community Engagement
The Cate Jazz Band performs at the Lynda Fairly Carpinteria Arts Center.
“It’s a great partnership,” she said. “I think it’s nice to see Cate students come down into the community and work with the local organizations and be true partners and collaborators. Since a lot of the kids aren’t from Carpinteria, it’s nice to bring them in and show them our small-town charm.” The Servons spirit extends to local families during the annual Holiday Cheer Drive, where Cate sponsors up to six Carpinteria families in need, providing donations and gifts.
Anna-Sung Park '22 plays Bingo with residents at Shepard Place.
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Within the past decade, the School has opened up its Early Learning Center (ELC), the childcare for faculty children ages 0-5, to Carpinteria community members and last year held its third annual Tractors, Trucks & Trolleys event – bringing Cate and Carpinteria families together to raise money for local public schools. And this past October, Cate participated in the Avocado Festival – one of the largest festivals in California – for the first time.
“The Avocado Festival was a lot of work, but it’s great for the community,” said Greene. “It’s one of those things where everyone is in it to help make Carpinteria better, so it was important for us to get involved.” Perhaps the height of this developing connection revealed itself this past January when a pair of Cate seniors, Emily Calkins '20 and Ethan Ha '20, were both tabbed as finalists for Junior Carpinterian of the Year. Among a record number of applicants, it marked the first time in recent memory that Cate had two finalists for the award, which is presented by the Carpinteria Valley Chamber of Commerce and honors “outstanding local high school seniors for their leadership abilities and special contributions to their school, Carpinteria, and beyond.” “It was such an honor, just because I’ve been giving back to this community for so long,” said Emily, who ultimately
her gratitude for having a place like Cate nearby. “We are very proud that Cate School is located in Carpinteria,” Donaldson said. “It’s a big attribute to us as a city, and something we can be very proud of. It’s such a beautiful campus, and especially with all of the volunteer work – it is an integral part of the community.”
Ethan Ha '20 (middle) and Emily Calkins '20 were named finalists for Junior Caprinterian of the Year, marking the first time in recent memory Cate had two finalists recognized.
“ Community members are constantly impressed by Cate students,” said Kristina. “Not only because of their talent, but because of their ability to shake your hand, look you in the eye, and have incredible conversations. It is inspiring for the future.” emerged as the winner. “Through Girl Scouts, the Carpinteria Arts Center, and other organizations that I work with, it was really great to see that my dedication and passion was really making an impact.” Making a difference since moving to Carpinteria in the first grade, Emily has been able to juggle the academic rigors of Cate while maintaining her involvement in her hometown. “I think it’s really cool to have two finalists from Cate because sometimes
Emily’s mother, Kristina Calkins, has made it her mission to intertwine the two communities ever since Emily enrolled at Cate three years ago. The Operations Manager at the Lynda Fairly Carpinteria Arts Center, Kristina wasted no time connecting with Cate’s Director of Instrumental Music, John Knecht, to establish a pipeline for opportunities. “Immediately, one of my personal goals was to get the Cate talent off the hill,” Kristina said. “Cate has so much talent that Carpinteria doesn’t even know about. Our board is constantly asking, ‘when are we going to get more students down here?’ So I reached out to John, and he has been a complete asset for the community.” What began as an annual visit to the Arts Center on Public Service Day has evolved into a thriving relationship – a platform for Cate students to perform while sharing their gifts with Carpinteria.
it’s hard to do service and get involved outside of the Cate community,” she said. “Especially if you’re not a day student. I know I’ve had to work extra hard to stay involved in the community because of all the commitments we have. Making time for Carpinteria can be hard, but it makes it even more gratifying and amazing.” Chamber of Commerce CEO Joyce Donaldson had the pleasure of interviewing both of the finalists following their selection and expressed
John Knecht has been instrumental in fostering connections between Cate and Carpinteria over the years.
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FEATURE “I love the Arts Center,” said Knecht, who teaches West African drumming at the center a few times a year. “I love having an arts center in downtown Carpinteria as a foundational space where people can go. There’s actually a lot of visual artists in [the town] – it’s a huge place for people that are painting and drawing – but they didn’t really have a performing arts side until Kristina came along.” Various receptions have seen performances from Cate’s rock and jazz bands, as well as the Chorale group and individual students. Not only taking advantage of the musically inclined, the Arts Center has also tapped into the School’s art and multimedia talent. The support has been crucial for the non-profit organization, from students
on the exhibition committee helping plan galleries to students filming promotional videos. Aside from the Arts Center, the musicians of Cate have made their presence felt at the annual holiday parade, tree lighting ceremony, joint concerts with Carpinteria High School, and the Talent Showcase at the Alcazar Theatre, which raises money for local music programs. According to Knecht, the event that has most of the town in awe, however, is Cate’s Winter by Candlelight concert held on campus before Winter Break. In addition to a school-only performance, Cate performs a second night – open to the Carpinteria community – which generates a lot of buzz.
Local Carpinteria elementary and middle school students spend the day at Cate learning to play lacrosse.
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“People will find me around town over the holidays and say how fantastic and beautiful the show is, and how talented the kids are. I think people love coming up here as much as they love seeing us down there. We try to find more and more ways – and even in just the last few years, we’ve done a lot more adding to the connections around town. Every year we add another Carpinteria event to the calendar.” While forging new ties with its recent community involvement, Cate remains a fixture at local elementary schools. Since 2007, Cate students and faculty have volunteered and helped tutor kids as part of the Aliso Elementary After School Program. The involvement has only expanded over the years, with
“ I love the work that I do with the community, and I love Carpinteria,” says Zamor. “... my plan is to live in Carpinteria because this has become home to me. Not just the School, but the city itself.” Zohara Zamor has helped tutor at local elementary schools since she came to Cate five years ago.
Cate increasing its visits to twice a week in 2012 and to three times a week in 2019. In 2016, the Carpinteria Flames after-school lacrosse program began, providing an outlet for Cate students to teach young girls from Aliso, Canalino Elementary, and Carpinteria Middle School the game of lacrosse. Director of the Aliso School After School Program (ASP) since 2006, Melissa Tramel says the partnership has been invaluable. “For me, Cate School is the best-kept secret,” she said. “Over the years, we have created a place where Cate students
can volunteer their time, learn how to interact with younger students, and be held to the same expectations as our ASP Activity Leaders. I offer to write recommendations for those who go above and beyond the volunteer requirements, and over the years, I am proud to say we have had several. The Cate students have played an essential role in developing meaningful and lasting relationships with our students in the after-school program.” French instructor Zohara Zamor has been involved in the after-school program throughout her time on the Mesa. Initially just a driver to take
students back and forth, she started to develop connections with the elementary school kids. While the kids from Cate may come and go, she wanted to be a constant, familiar face and eventually began to help tutor. “I love the work that I do with the community, and I love Carpinteria,” says Zamor. When a student asked her one day what her plan is for retirement, she didn’t need long to answer. “I told them my plan is to live in Carpinteria because this has become home to me. Not just the School, but the city itself.” When reflecting on the relationship between Cate and Carpinteria, Zamor has seen it grow considerably in her five years on the West Coast. “The relationship is certainly developing – it’s getting stronger,” Zamor said. “I’m working with kids, and they say, ‘Can I go to Cate? I want to go to Cate!’ They are interested in us, and now they know our name. They know the name Cate.”
Cate students take the main stage at the famous Avocado Festival in Carpinteria.
From the previous century to the next one, Cate will continue to build on its connection with Carpinteria, hopping in the golden Yukons and wearing out Casitas Pass Road in the process. 41
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Henry’s Camp: The Brown Family’s Legacy on the Kern River By Monique Parsons '84, Board of Trustees Chair
T
he Kern. Four decades of Cate students know the words well. For some, they evoke a glow of nostalgia and pride; for others, flashbacks of fear and misery; and for just about everyone, a stream of stories, a sense of accomplishment, and feeling of common endeavor. What began as a foray into the backcountry for a small group of boys and teachers eager to catch some trout has become something greater.
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For the past 40 years, the Brown family of Carpinteria has welcomed Cate students to Henry’s Camp, their private backcountry paradise on the banks of the Kern River. Their hospitality was inspired by the legacy of Henry Brown, the family patriarch who was the first in the family to invite Cate teachers and students to venture there with him. The camp resembles a mini Yosemite Valley. The relationship between the Brown family and Cate runs deep, with two of Henry’s grandchildren, Christine '05 and Nick '09, graduating from the School. “I don’t think a single one of them regretted doing it,” Henry Brown’s grandson, Nick Brown '09, says. “It’s a memory for life.” “Cate School is extremely grateful to three generations of the Brown family, beginning with Henry Brown, who opened this magical property to Cate students and teachers and created lasting memories for all,” said Headmaster Ben Williams, who joined the trip every year since coming to Cate in 1998. Two generations of students know The Kern as crucible, the most rigorous of the Outings Week trips, a junior year rite of passage and a lasting memory of their time at Cate. The Kern refers to the Kern River, a federally-designated “wild and scenic river” that runs some 164 miles from the Sierras down toward Bakersfield, Calif. It’s known to be one of the steepest, wildest whitewater rivers on the continent, and the canyon carved by the North Fork Kern River is thought to be the longest glacially-sculpted valley on the planet. But, for the Cate students who tackled the Kern, the trip was always about more than the river itself. The centerpiece of the trip was Henry’s Camp, a remote 80-acre shangri-la in the Golden Trout Wilderness on the east bank of the river. Henry’s Camp has been in the Brown family since Henry Brown purchased it in 1946. “Dad was a total out-of-the-box guy,” says Nick’s dad Tony, who said his father had a passionate love of the wilderness. Spending weeks at the camp each summer and fall 43
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has been a Brown family tradition for more than 60 years; Tony Brown was just eight years old when he first made the trek on horseback, and the trip became a rite of passage for his children as well. “Dad had a rule that due to the high number of rattlesnakes, (age) eight was the number when you could go.” The first Cate excursion happened in the early 1980s, facilitated by a mutual friend of Henry Brown’s and Cate history teacher Rob Bowler, an avid fly fisherman. A small group of boys made the trip. Over time, more students and teachers made it a tradition, until the excursion became an annual Outings Week tradition for the entire junior class. Director of Studies, Lisa Holmes, made the trip multiple times, and reflected on its impact on her. “Doing the Kern gave me the awareness that I was truly in the West after being in New England for so long. It also introduced me to the trust and partnership that Cate students and faculty share. The Kern trip was my introduction to Cate.” Henry Brown “wanted kids to get out into the wilderness and just soak in their surroundings,” Tony says. Nick adds that his grandfather “was meant for back there, and his goal was to get as many people back there and into that environment as he possibly could. He just understood how transformative it was and how powerful it was.”
While hard to access, the camp itself offers a peaceful midpoint to the trip. “The hike is difficult. It’s a slog. You’re going through beautiful places, but it’s typically hot, dusty, and the days are long. Once you get there, it’s so refreshing,” Nick says. “Even the kids who seem to have absolutely hated the journey in, they usually can have a moment and appreciate where they are. Sometimes it’s not till they’re back in civilization.” In addition to going to the camp two or three times each year with his family, Nick went on the trip twice as a Cate student and eight times as a Cate alumnus. His sister, Christine '05, first went as a child and has made the trek on a regular basis. Henry Brown died in 1996, but he left a lasting legacy.
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“A quote from Henry that stuck with me,” Nick says, “is you don’t plant trees for this generation. You plant them for the next generation. He planted a grove of redwoods above the cabin in the most impractical spot. (But) they require us to go into camp to make sure they have water. That thought is he did that quote purposely, just to ensure that there would always be somebody in camp.” While the tradition has reached its end — the class of 2021 will be the last Cate class to make the journey to Henry’s Camp — Nick Brown said he hopes to carry on his grandfather’s tradition and host small groups of alumni in the future. The Kern trip “touched a lot of people,” Tony Brown says. “It was a long run. I feel nothing but good fortune that it was such a nice long run.”
“ Cate School is extremely grateful to three generations of the Brown family, beginning with Henry Brown, who opened this magical property to Cate students and teachers and created lasting memories for all.� Headmaster Ben Williams
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THE CAMPAIGN FOR CATE SCHOOL
Campaign Update By Lindsay Newlove, Director of Advancement
For Cate and Forever, Cate’s comprehensive campaign, is persevering forward, even in the face of a global pandemic. With gifts raised for building projects to serve the community, scholarship funds to provide tuition assistance for students who otherwise would not be able to attend, equity of experience funds to support students once they are on the Mesa, and more, the campaign is already the largest and most robust in Cate history. It is fitting, due to the permanent impact of dollars raised, that this campaign has Forever in its name. The Otis Booth Foundation Dining Commons and Student Center (Booth Commons for short) is on track and on budget for a spring opening. Due to the current state of the world, it may be a bit longer before we all gather there, but its purpose – to bring Cate community members together in a bright, spacious, welcoming way, for mealtimes and to linger in conversation – will prevail. We are grateful to early supporters of the campaign for making this building possible. Across the courtyard from Booth Commons, the E. L. Wiegand Performing Arts Center will open in tandem, featuring a dedicated dance studio and collaborative space for the arts – choral, movement, 46
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Construction photos inside Booth Commons provide a glimpse of the progress as the project nears completion.
theater, and more. This new heart of campus will reinvent the Mesa with spectacular views, walking paths, and destinations. Buildings are permanent, as is Cate’s long-term financial planning. Cate’s sustenance and growth comes from the endowment, wherein our donor designations reflect our needs: financial assistance, faculty support, programs, and the campus at large. For Cate and
Forever, with the great help of the Emmett Family Challenge (wherein Dan Emmett '99 – trustee, grandparent, and parent of alumni – inspired eight others, who together created a matching gift challenge for new gifts to the endowment of $50k or more), has raised significant new endowed funds. Memorial scholarship funds for dear friends and alumni have been created. As the Cate endowment grows, so too do the opportunities Cate provides.
Interview with Mimi Brown '92 Mimi Brown '92 is an alumna, current parent, trustee, and longtime supporter of Cate. From hosting events in Hong Kong including the first ever Cate in Asia Summit in 2016, to rallying hundreds at Camp Cate in celebration of milestone reunions, Mimi is deeply invested on the Mesa. Thanks to her deep commitment to access for students, she made her largest gift ever – and the first ever million dollar gift from an alumna – in support of the For Cate and Forever campaign.
What do you love most about the Cate community?
What I love most is what many love most: the relationships. We forge relationships at Cate that continue to unfold across our lives. In some cases, we stay in frequent touch after leaving school. In other cases, we cherish and reflect on conversations and friendships we had while on the Mesa. It is like an enduring family that we will always belong to, whatever happens. During my four years as a student, my family included roommates, teachers, friends, advisors, staffers, prefects, TAs, teammates, fellow singers and dancers, and all sorts of other people whose paths I crossed doing this or that, so that by the time I left Cate, I had a tapestry of experiences and relationships that continues to be invaluable to me. It has laid a groundwork for who I think I am and who I want to be. The experiences weren’t all rosy, but life never is. What mattered was that I had a safe space to show up as I was and to try new things, I had the privilege to grow with and learn from people I wouldn’t otherwise encounter. I remember how freeing that was, to feel that I had somehow landed in a place where I could access not only new points of view, but a safe place to explore them.
Decades later, my Cate family is still growing. At the Cate Asia Summit in Hong Kong in 2016, it was a treat to meet over 100 Caties from six decades and nine countries on that side of the Pacific, from Australia to Singapore to Korea. We revelled in our shared Cateness, with alumni telling tales of how they wound up in Carpinteria from small towns in Malaysia or the Philippines, or how in the '60s students used to have to overnight in Tokyo and then Honolulu in order to get from Hong Kong to Cate due to the available flights, and so why not enjoy the journey? We laughed and munched on Hong Kong-prepared versions of burritos and a guacamole-adjacent greenish dip. Now, as I have begun to frequent the School as a parent and trustee, I feel once again how deep the roots go. I welcome the new faces and new perspectives as the School changes along with our world. That said, a few details I’ve caught of my son’s freshman year at Cate speak to a satisfying consistency, like the way Mr. Pierce rolls up his shirtsleeves to teach geometry, and the humorous feedback Mr. Collins scribbles in the margin of a Foundation Arts essay. It only takes a glimpse of Mr. Collin’s penmanship to teleport me to my 17-year-old self in the raked seats at the back of Hitchcock Theatre, listening intently in AP Art
History class as Mr. Collins exhorted us to remember this key phrase for understanding how art rolled from one work to the next across the centuries: “transformation of antecedents.” Not surprisingly, I still use that phrase to shape my worldview. How has your time at Cate impacted your journey thus far?
Cate has left gentle paw prints all over my heart! One tiger-sized print is left by Cate’s community service night. It was led by Sandy “Mama” Ellis who always had a hug ready and whose luminous presence made a huge impact on many of us. As founder of the freshman seminar program and shepherd of community service opportunities in Carpinteria, CA and in Tijuana, Mexico, Mama Ellis showed us that the more you share with other people, the richer your own life becomes. She reminded us that the world isn’t a zero-sum game with finite resources. I marvelled at the way she walked through the world. When I founded a non-profit in Hong Kong, it felt like it had grown out of Cate’s soil. I was also dramatically changed by the lion-sized pawprint of Cate’s outdoor program led by Paul Denison. I went from a girl who did jazz dance and 47
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spent afternoons in a hammock with Ray Bradbury novels to a helmeted kayaker running river rapids in Utah with dog-eared Stegner photocopies in my backpack. I remember bumping down one white-water rapid nearly upside down in my kayak, heart racing, until I finally reached the rapid’s end, and dragged my boat to shore, ready to curl up under the nearest rock for a nice, safe nap. I made the mistake of glancing at Mr. Denison, who gave me an enormous thumbs up, and yelled, “Nice work, Brown! Grab your boat and do it again.” So I did. In many ways, that is what I continue to do in daily life. Such clever real-world training tactics from these Caties! Cate also made me love—and seek out in my current life—a sense of common endeavor. It felt like we were always asking “How can we work together to make this better?” I realized later how much I enjoyed the constant opportunities to work with other students and teachers toward some sort of goal, whether it was during the public service nights or the outdoor program or the school play or the sports practices or the prefect meetings. Putting your shoulder to the wheel together not only makes the work lighter, but it also changes the way you bond with others. It gives you a fresh set of ways to connect. Thanks to Cate’s smallness and the fact that we all lived together, we got to re-encounter those folks in other moments, and work together again, building on what has come before, so that our relationships deepen and grow. At the same time, I got to better understand parts of myself. Tell us about your experience as a member of Cate’s Board of Trustees.
I value my memories from Cate so much that I was hesitant to join the board at first, lest the school seem
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less epic from an adult perspective. Not only has that fear turned out to be unfounded, but the opposite has turned out to be the case; I am wildly excited that this place exists! As I listen to Cate’s leaders, teachers, and students, I once again find myself in the seat of the student, privileged to hear new points of view, learning from people who think professionally about what’s best for and in humans, and working alongside an impassioned group in a common endeavor. It’s like getting to attend Cate all over again. The community endures! What inspired you to make a gift to the campaign?
I am fired up by the idea of equal access. This goal means that qualified students from all financial backgrounds will have an equal chance of being accepted at Cate. The Cate Board has looked closely at what equal access will require financially, and has committed to concrete steps toward this vision. As we gather this brilliant community on the Mesa, we want all students to feel a sense of belonging, to participate fully, and to bring their whole selves to school, which takes attention, programming, and funding. We are working hard on these conditions for connectedness, but could use even more financial support in that direction. Meanwhile, the light reflected by the beauty of our students’ belonging reminds us that we ourselves can also belong in the Cate family. While my spark of inspiration about equal access comes from how much I valued the friendships and insights of my own Cate classmates and teachers, what inspires me now is the knowledge that these invaluable experiences are still going on today for the students on the Mesa. I want to do my part to enable this vision to continue. I have also been around Cate long enough now to see that our School does what
it says it will do. This isn’t the type of place where a donation disappears into the mist. A person can give toward what matters to her, and know that the School will honor her intention. Separately, at this moment when the world is in crisis, it is clear how suddenly wonderful things can lose their footing, so part of our collective goal in giving is to create a bulwark for our School, to be the guardians of this beloved place by continuing to contribute resources that secure it. What do you want your legacy to be? How does this gift play a part in that legacy?
If we choose, we can re-engage with Cate as adults, and be welcomed to this place that holds space for kindness, impassioned inquiry, purposeful diversity, and wholehearted engagement. Participating in this, we can then ask together: How can we help create for the next generation what we most cherished in our experience? Or even improve upon our experience? For anyone considering a gift, we care what Cate meant to you, and we would love your help making that part of Cate stronger, better, more enduring. Tell us what matters to you. There’s a lot of co-creation when you join the shared endeavor that is Cate, even when we are no longer students or parents. A lot of community effort and teamwork go into Cate every day from the students, faculty, staff, board, alumni, and families past and present. It’s actually about each of us playing our part to whatever extent we can. I would love to help reconnect each of us to the parts of Cate that make us feel encouraged about the world and its future, and to let everyone know there is a family for you here.
Dispatches Wellness is an ever present theme, not only throughout this issue, but especially in the world today. We caught up with six alumni in the health and wellness industry who work every day to make a difference. By Guille Gil-Reynoso, Advancement & Communications Manager and Matt McClenathen, Communications & Publications Specialist
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Jocelyn Denison Solomon '88 believes that people are in control of how they move through the world. As such, she prioritized her life and well-being when she became a mom – leaving her trial attorney career behind to become a yoga instructor and a life, health, and sobriety coach. This new direction was not such a stretch for Jocelyn, as she found clear overlap between criminal charge conviction and addressing client addiction issues and mental wellness. “I went from getting clients out of jail to helping people bust out of their own metaphorical walls that they create for themselves,” she said. The founder of Joceyln Solomon Yoga in Santa Monica, CA, Jocelyn leads transformative yoga classes and international retreats that focus on mental wellness and creating a person’s best version of themself. This includes living with truth and ensuring that the choices people make are aligned with feeling good, clear, and connected. Jocelyn has been sober for more than 23 years and firmly believes that, “a deeper breath will always make you feel better.” She acknowledges that Cate students – and all high school students – face so much pressure to be successful, achieve a high GPA, get into first-choice colleges, and to be “perfect.” Jocelyn hopes to shift that conversation and unrealistic expectations with the following advice: “Soften, and understand that the life of a teenager can be complicated and imperfect, and that you are going to be amazing wherever you go and whatever you do.” In reflecting upon her life journey, she recognizes learning to fail as something people must navigate, because there is no “perfect.” Jocelyn credits Cate with empowering her with resilience, independence, confidence, and fierce competitiveness – an invaluable life-long skill set that has enabled her to take risks, switch careers, and reinvent herself to become her best self.
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Jocelyn
DENISON SOLOMON '88
“With the right information, tools and encouragement, we have the capacity for radical life transformation, whether that’s breaking free from painful patterns of living or building a life that sings.” The core life philosophy of Dr. Scott Symington '89 jumps off the screen to anyone that visits his website. A licensed clinical psychologist with his own private practice – specializing in treating anxiety and mood disorders, unhealthy relationship patterns, and life transitions – Scott has been helping people better themselves for more than 15 years. And when it comes to life transitions, he can speak from experience. Once a successful broker of agricultural products, Scott was left unfulfilled and began to reevaluate his career path. With a previous long-term interest in psychology, he found a passion that aligned with his head and his heart. “I’ve always been drawn to things that felt meaningful,” he said. “What is meaningful to me is connecting with people on a deeper level; helping them really be free and fully express who they were wired to be.” The author of Freedom from Anxious Thoughts and Feelings: A Two-Step Mindfulness Approach for Moving Beyond Fear and Worry, Scott utilizes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, and Mindfulness-Based Treatments to help his patients regain control of their lives. Perhaps his most popular tool in recent years has been the Two-Screen Method – a userfriendly application of mindfulness that serves as a visual road map for living in the moment. “A large theme, for me, is taking all of the tools we have in psychology and trying to package them in a way that is accessible and useful to people in their daily lives,” Scott said. “That way they can leverage information we know can be effective and helpful in cultivating an overall sense of well-being.”
Dr. Scott
SYMINGTON '89
His penchant for people can be traced back to his time at Cate, where he made lasting friendships and learned valuable life skills. “It was such a formative time to my identity,” he said. “Just being in that environment for four years was a special gift. Cate was a family to me, and I’ll never forget those relationships and experiences.”
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Ashlyn Clark McCague '98 can directly relate her commitment to community and children as a result of her exposure to Cate’s spirit of Servons, the public service program, and the Los Niños trips she took to Mexico while a student at the School. These experiences formed Ashlyn’s career trajectory – from becoming a teacher, to her current role as Director of Development for Child Abuse Listening and Mediation (CALM). At CALM, she has the opportunity to share uplifting stories of the impactful work that the agency does in building lifelong resilience and helping children pull through life’s adversities successfully. “Childhood trauma is the number one public health crisis and CALM is the only agency in Santa Barbara County with an emphasis on prevention,” said Ashlyn. CALM focuses on addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) or identified traumas that can impact a child’s health such as physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, physical or emotional neglect, substance misuse, domestic violence, mental illness of a parent, or death of a parent. CALM warns that if these traumas are left untreated, they can contribute to mental or physical health outcomes that pose a greater risk for cancer, heart disease, or pulmonary issues. Consequently, it is imperative to address childhood trauma early on. In spite of adversities in life, Ashlyn acknowledges that, “risk is not destiny” because “small shifts that happen now can have transformative impact over time.” She attests that building resilience can combat adversity. CALM suggests the following ways to build resilience in children and adults alike: mindfulness, exercise, healthy relationships, healthy sleep, mental health, and nutrition. On the topic of mental wellness, Ashlyn shared that it is critical to reduce the pressures on youth. “Cate students want to have it all figured out and it’s okay to not have it all figured out – whether you are 16, 23, or 32. Resilience is about navigating through life’s journey in times of uncertainty and being all right with that.”
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Ashlyn
CLARK MCCAGUE '98
Health education is a vital part of wellness. Rey Canseco '10 works for Peer Health Exchange (PHE), an organization that seeks health equity for all. With PHE branches spread across the country, Rey is based in the Los Angeles office where he serves as the Director of Development.
Rey
CANSECO '10
According to PHE, fewer than 38% of adolescents in low-income communities had a preventative health care visit last year. These preventable health concerns contribute to the fact that more than one million students drop out of high school each year. Due to this, Rey believes health education is imperative, because it improves young people’s health outcomes, high school graduation rates, and life opportunities. PHE utilizes a peer-to-peer model where college student “health educators” from the University of Southern California, Occidental College, CSU Northridge, and CSU Dominguez Hills provide a health curriculum on the subjects of mental health, sexual health, and substance misuse prevention to 9th grade students at Title I High Schools. Title I designation is given to schools with large concentrations of low-income students that receive supplemental funds to assist in meeting educational goals. “What makes PHE unique is that it focuses on information sharing, skill development, trust building, and honest conversations,” Rey said. He is proud of the direct impact PHE has on teens, adding that, “Program participants are more likely to talk to a trusted adult about their feelings, twice as likely to use a health center, and are better prepared to identify early mental health warning signs at an earlier stage in life.” This awareness is especially valuable prior to students heading off to college. Rey believes it is important to destigmatize mental health. He encourages all students to empower themselves with information and to take advantage of Cate’s health resources so that they have every opportunity to live a healthy and happy life.
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DISPATCHES
Ari
SOKOLOV
Former student (2015-16) Ari Sokolov fondly recalls her time at Cate, sitting on a tire and participating in varsity coding. For that, she is grateful to Craig Bouma, who helped her create a successful proposal to Cate’s administration so she could pursue her passion. Her participation in hackathons and technology competitions eventually led to the development of the Trill Project in 2018. Trill is a safe social network app that fosters tight-knit communities built on support rather than judgement. The app currently has more than 55,000 users. Trill represents the combination of “true and real.” Its purpose is to create an inclusive environment for people who identify as LGBTQ, as many do not feel accepted even in their local progressive communities. “Research indicates that suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24, and LGBTQ youth have the highest rate of suicide attempts,” shared Ari. Users can post anonymously on Trill, and more than 100 moderators – between the ages of 18 to 27 – offer support as needed. Moderators and “super users” receive training from advisors at the University of Michigan or from suicide hotline training programs. “Trill is unique because it was developed by younger users and the peer-to-peer support is very powerful in creating smaller virtual communities,” said Ari. Trill also provides valuable resources related to physical or sexual abuse, mental wellness, and health. It also has a content channel that highlights community influencers. Ari believes that Cate’s public service program provided her with exposure to different people and perspectives. Her love for coding and helping others has led to a career path in social entrepreneurship as she intends to continue her work in technology to help others. This summer, Ari will be interning at Apple and her advice to students who are stressed is to under promise and over deliver, keep themselves healthy and reach out for help. “Cate is an incredibly supportive environment, make sure you seek help if you need it.”
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Sohee Lee '08 fell in love with lifting weights during her senior year at Cate. Now, she runs her own online personal training business and boasts nearly 300,000 followers on social media. The creator of SoheeFit and author of the book Eat. Lift. Thrive., Sohee provides training and nutrition advice through the lens of behavioral psychology. Her early interest in health and exercise led her to Stanford University, where she graduated with a degree in human biology after dabbling in premed and spending time as a student athletic trainer. “It took me about a year and a half to realize that I wasn’t passionate about sports,” Sohee recalls. Thanks to her AP English courses at Cate, Sohee was able to use her writing ability to start blogging and eventually received a job offer from BodyBuilding.com. With an interest in the psychology of fitness, she carved her own path and found a niche in the market to pursue online fitness training full-time. Founder of the #EatLiftThrive movement, Sohee is focused on helping her clients “establish healthy relationships with food and exercise for long-term results.” Her book, which she penned in 2017, is broken up into three parts: mindset, nutrition, and training. “A lot of what I write about is, in my mind, information that I wish would have helped me in the beginning of my fitness journey.” When it comes to wellness, Sohee emphasizes that having the right mindset is key – so much in fact, that she made it the first chapter in her book. “I’ve always believed that if you can get your mindset in the right place, everything else becomes so much easier,” she says. “It doesn’t matter what training program you’re on, if you are harboring the wrong attitude, you’re not going to be happy. I always try to think of ways to get people to understand that this is a lifelong journey, and it all starts with your mindset.” In addition to the mental approach, Sohee maintains that ensuring adequate sleep is paramount, but ultimately it comes down to enjoyment – not to worry about measurements or results at first, but to simply have fun. She wants her clients to love what they are doing and asks, “Are they enjoying the process?”
Sohee LEE '08
For Sohee, that is the easiest question of them all. “I absolutely love what I do, and I don’t see myself stopping any time soon.”
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In
Memoriam Cheever Tyler '55 Published in the New Haven Register Lawyer, photographer, writer and civic leader Cheever Tyler died on Friday, August 23rd, 2019 at the age of 81. Born on October 6, 1937 in Los Angeles, Tyler grew up in California, attending the Town School in San Francisco and later the Cate School in Carpinteria. He graduated from Yale University in 1959, where he was the business manager of the Yale Daily News. He subsequently served two years in the U.S. Navy, before receiving his law degree from the University of Michigan and beginning his career at the law firm of Wiggin & Dana in New Haven. Tyler spent 30 years at Wiggin & Dana before retiring as a senior partner in 1994 to found Non-Profit Strategies and The Partnership for Connecticut Cities, both of which were designed to educate corporate and private donors on the needs of cities, as well as to provide fundraising and strategic planning programs for cultural and civic institutions. Known widely as “Mr. New Haven,” Tyler was a devoted supporter of the arts and community during his nearly 60 years in the city. A charismatic leader and strategic thinker, he served as the president of multiple boards, including the New Haven Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Greater New Haven, New Haven Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, Elm Shakespeare Company, Arts Council of Greater New Haven, New Haven County Bar Association and Mory’s. Tyler was an active member on many other boards as well, such as the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Bank of New Haven and the Mark Twain House and Museum. Most notably, Tyler served as President of the Shubert Performing Arts Center for eight years, steering the theater out of debt and leading an endowment campaign that allowed the theater to become self-supporting. Tyler served with distinction on the board of the University of New Haven, which in 1988 presented him with the President’s Award in recognition of exemplary life achievement and extraordinary civic contribution. In 1989 the University also awarded Tyler with a degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoring him as “a dynamic force in the improvement of the human condition at all levels in New Haven.”
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In his decades as a citizen of New Haven, Tyler received numerous awards for his contributions to the community, and in 2013 The New Haven Register recognized Tyler as one of the 125 Most Influential People in Connecticut History. Always a creative spirit, Tyler never stopped collaborating with the city’s artists, publishing several projects that showcased them and their work, including the deck of cards “Handful of Art;” as well as the books “Artists Next Door;” “Portraits of an Orchestra,” featuring members of New Haven Symphony Orchestra; and “The Shubert Murals, Broadway in the Basement,” documenting the murals at the theater, all of which Tyler photographed himself. Tyler also published books of his own photographs and poetry, the best known of which were “Our Brothers and Sisters,” a collection of his personal black and white photography from the 60s and 70s, as well as “Vineyard Passages” and “Postcards from the Vineyard,” both of which capture his love of Martha’s Vineyard and the time he spent there with family and friends. He was well known for his exuberant personality, wide smile and unending enthusiasm for people and their accomplishments. At the end of every performance at the Shubert Theater, Tyler was always the first to his feet, shouting “Bravo!” or “Brava!” Once when he referred to someone as a “great guy,” a friend nearby said, “Does he know anyone who is not a great guy?” His sense of fun was infectious and his sense of humor legendary. His laugh was always the boldest and brightest in the room and it will be forever missed. Tyler is survived by his wife of 47 years, Sally, six children (Pierce, John, Haven, Nathan, Katherine, and Sara), nine grandchildren and his sister Zora Edwards of Berkeley, Calif.
Henry (Harry) Russell '48 Published in the Green Valley News Henry Sturgis (Harry) Russell, Jr. died peacefully in his sleep on Saturday, December 21. He was born in Carpinteria, California, on April 10, 1927, the son of Henry S. Russell and Carolyn Towle. Russell grew up on a lemon ranch, riding horses daily, and he attended and graduated from Cate School, where he won the horseman trophy. He was the grandson of the School’s founder, Curtis Cate, following Cate’s marriage to his grandmother, Katharine Thayer Russell. He served in the US Navy on Guam and returned to attend Harvard College, class of 1950. While at Harvard, Russell was a member of the Speakers Club and played in the Hasty Pudding Show. He married his wife, Patty Jewell, in 1950 in Newton, Mass. and they lived in Stow, Mass. for 40 years and raised a family. Russell volunteered on the Stow School Committee and attended the Church of the Good Shepherd in Acton, Mass. where he served on the Vestry and was Senior Warden. He was employed at Waltham Bag and Paper and after retirement, he was Dean of Admissions at Chapel Hill Chauncy Hall School, a trustee and later President of the Board of Trustees at Lawrence Academy in Groton, Mass., and President of Concord, Mass. Family Service. In 1993, he moved to Green Valley, Ariz. and enjoyed a rafting trip down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. He was involved in St. Francis in the Valley Church, where he was Senior Warden and member of the Vestry.
During retirement, he was active living at La Posada retirement community. He sang in the Green Valley Community Chorus for many years and was a passionate reader and crossword puzzler. Russell had a love of travel, wines and music, but what was most important to him was the love of family. He had two stepsisters and two stepbrothers in Big Horn, Wyo. He leaves his wife, Patty, and children Sandy of Green Valley, Ariz., Sally in Sterling, Va., and Ted with wife Brenda in Madison, N.J., seven grandchildren and four greatgrandchildren, his sister Susan Russell of Phoenix, Ariz. and his late brother Col. Howland S. Russell.
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IN MEMORIAM
Roy Bayly '44
James Clair Flood '57
Published in The Santa Barbara News-Press Online Edition
Published in the San Francisco Chronicle
Roy Downer Bayly Jr. passed away peacefully at home in Valle Verde, Santa Barbara, Calif. on Friday, November 29, at the age of 94. Roy’s life was a full one, his interests many and varied, and he lived looking forward to each new day. Raised in Pasadena, Calif., he attended Polytechnic School and the Catalina Boys School before graduating from Cate in 1944. He then graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was an Alpha Delt. Roy served as an officer in the Navy V-12 program in WWll.
Well-known San Franciscan James Clair Flood, who bore the name of his silver baron great-grandfather, never planned to retire. The businessman, cowboy and skier had ambitious plans for the coming months. So the news of his sudden heart failure on February 18, 2020 in Jackson Hole, Wyo. came as a shock to all who knew and loved him and were a part of his active life.
Among his many loves, sailing was lifelong and his most memorable moment was crewing on the famous Chubasco racing yacht as she was First to Finish in the 1947 Transpacific Race. Small boats occupied him for many years thereafter and he was a keen and accomplished small boat sailor. The world of business was not one of Roy’s passions and he retired from banking at the still young age of 55. This left plenty of “quality time” for his love of gardening, farming, and tinkering, to which he was well suited. He won a gold medal for his home-produced Santa Cruz County Pinot Noir, planted, grown, and vinified with his own hands. Roy and his adored family spent many enjoyable days car camping throughout Mexico and Roy was enamored with Mexican culture and history. A keen observer of life, he was also quite artistic, producing wonderful watercolors and sketches in his later years. Roy loved to travel and he was good at it, going to Europe often and exploring the back roads and out-of-the-way treasures that captured his interest. For the past 10 years he was especially fond of the long stretches he spent at his “adopted” cabin in the High Sierra, binoculars in hand and sketchbook at the ready as he observed the varied bird life. For these and so many other chapters and interests in Roy’s life, he was truly worthy of the title “The most interesting man in the world”. He is survived by his five children Ty (Therese), John (Julie), David (and fiance’ Sarah) Anne (Alice) and Ginny. “Popa” leaves 13 grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Martha. He is survived by his beloved Maren Thomas and her family. This kind and engaging Renaissance man will be missed.
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Days before he died, he rode his quarter horse Tucker in Woodside with his wife, Astrid, and daughter Karin. In the same week, he forged ahead with business at the family-owned Flood Building. He closed out his duck season with an epic hunt, tirelessly fetching fallen birds from the boggy marsh at Pacific Valley Ranch in Marysville. On his final day, he skied 7,736 vertical feet at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and enjoyed a ski-area cheeseburger with daughter Christina and her family. He was 80.
“Candidly, I didn’t imagine it could be true at first,” wrote Ben Williams, headmaster of the Cate School, where Flood attended high school and continued later as a passionate board member and alumni. “Irascible Jim Flood couldn’t be taken down by anything or anyone, I imagined. He’d outrun the reaper ... or stare him down ... back him off with some well phrased, well-timed humor.” Born in San Francisco to James Flood and Elizabeth Dresser Flood, Jim grew up in Woodside with siblings Judy, Elizabeth and John. He attended Woodside Elementary School. His cousin, Joan Law Gamble, lived less than a mile away and made many memories with the family. “We had a fabulous childhood,” she recalled. “We used horses to get around. We ran as a pack, swimming and fishing in creeks, building forts and sleeping under the redwoods.” The two families also enjoyed many years at the Flood’s Rancho Sisquoc in the Santa Maria Valley. They moved cattle, shot quail, drove old Land Rovers over rugged ranch roads and along precarious cliffs. His mother, Betty Flood, instilled in all of them a love and respect for the country and all its creatures. The love for the outdoors established in Jim’s youth evolved into a far-ranging drive for adventure. “Everything he did was planned with the seasons in mind,” his wife said. “Hunting in the fall, skiing in the winter, and fly-fishing in the spring and summer.” He considered his summit of the Grand Teton with daughters Lisa and Christina one of his favorite accomplishments. He loved the mountains and rivers of northwest Wyoming and made the region his second home for parts of five decades. The civic spirit he embodied in the city found an outlet in the country as he enjoyed many rewarding years on the Jackson Hole Land Trust board of directors.
After graduating from the Cate School in 1957, he studied International Relations at Stanford University and graduated in 1961. Later, he joined the U.S. Army Intelligence. On a practice mission, he lived in an igloo for six months with the Inuit, hunting and fishing. His father made him come home and get a job after the service. Jim joined Wells Fargo Bank, where he worked his way up the ladder from teller to executive vice president. He married his wife Astrid of 54 years in 1966 in New York City. The couple honeymooned with Syida and Claxton Long in Jamaica. Jim and Astrid raised three girls, numerous Labradors, and horses. They lived in San Francisco and he was a fixture in his neighborhood. On one unforgettable Halloween, he dressed as a gorilla and spooked people for hours. In 1990, when Jim’s father died, Jim went to work for the family business. He managed the Flood building on 870 Market Street as well as the family’s winery and cattle ranch in Santa Barbara. For the building’s centennial in 2004, Jim spent $15 million to restore the flatiron. Many believe this was the most rewarding time of his life, when his passion for family, history, and San Francisco all came together. The California Heritage Council honored him for the restoring and preserving of the city landmark. He believed strongly in reviving the downtown area near the building, the heart of San Francisco. With his daughter Karin, he created the Union Square Business Improvement District, serving as president for 10 years and board member for 20. In 2009, the BID honored him with a Cable Car Bell for his dedication to improving the cleanliness and safety of the streets.
Jim approached his responsibilities at the family ranch with the same level of attention and passion. When he took over, he set his sights on making the ranch economically sustainable, a goal he attained and surpassed. Together with ranch managers Mary and Ed Holt of 41 years, Jim improved the ranch infrastructure, added more vineyards, increased wine sales, managed the cattle operation and modernized the farming. His introduction of a wine club significantly helped the winery grow. The operation went from making a few hundred cases to making 20,000 cases. Winemaker Sarah Mullins, the Holt’s daughter, also achieved Jim’s dream for high marks in the Wine Spectator. As a prominent San Franciscan, he was a member of the Pacific-Union Club, the Bohemian Club, and the Burlingame Club. As a cowboy, he enjoyed his memberships with the Society of California Pioneers, The Rancheros, the Frontier Boys, and the Society of Los Alamos. For his 50th birthday, his favorite ski instructor, Eddie Kolsky, wrote a song for Jim that captured his unique character: But often he’ll talk and then listen but doze, that’s the cowboy in city man’s clothes. Jim is survived by his wife Astrid of 54 years, his three daughters Lisa Flood (Thomas), Karin Flood and Christina Flood Kane (Larry), seven grandchildren, his siblings Judy Otter (Dick), Elizabeth Stevenson (John Fell) and John Flood (Diana) as well as his cousins Joan Gamble, and Jim and Ted Stebbins. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Union Square Foundation, the Society of California Pioneers or the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation.
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IN MEMORIAM
Mackie Greason '11 By The Greason Family To our dear, sweet Mackie. When your heart stopped suddenly on a Wednesday morning in March, it was way too soon. You just moved into a new apartment only three days earlier. You started an exciting new job a few months ago. You had a great group of friends, an adorable German Shepherd Pluto, and were only days away from your two-year anniversary with your beautiful, loving girlfriend Sarah. We know that you are with God, and we must focus not on this devastating loss, but instead on the joy you gave the world for 27 years. So now we celebrate your life. Mackie was born on February 5, 1993. He came into the world 10 weeks early, weighing only four pounds. He was in intensive care for 10 days before we were able to bring him home. 22 months later, his brother Wesley was born and an unbreakable bond began to form between them.
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Mackie attended Happy Valley Elementary and then Stanley Middle School. He played saxophone in the jazz band and excelled in sports, including karate, lacrosse, basketball, flag football and skiing. Mackie was friendly to everyone, a true beam of light. For high school, Mackie sought a different path and attended the Cate School in Carpinteria, where he thrived. The diversity at Cate gave Mackie an opportunity to make friends with students of all races, nationalities and economic backgrounds. Mackie played saxophone, developed a true love of learning, excelled at sports and earned 10 varsity letters in lacrosse, football, basketball and soccer. He was named a High School All-American in lacrosse, got to team up with Wesley for two seasons, and the Rams won the Condor League championship in Mackie’s senior season.
Mackie was selected by the Cate faculty as a senior prefect along with buddies Harry, Michael, Budi and Jackson, whose responsibility it was to supervise the freshman dorms and help the boys transition from middle school to boarding school. His peers selected him as the head prefect, and in that role he dealt directly with Cate faculty and advocated for students in disciplinary actions. In his senior year at Cate, Mackie was recruited by Colorado College to play lacrosse. Mackie majored at CC in biology, played lacrosse, was a student athletic trainer and made lifelong friends, including Henri, Dylan, Austin, Gray, Andrew, Taylor and others. It was at CC that Mackie developed a passion for strength training, and after graduation, he returned to Cate for two years to coach lacrosse and strength training. The
preemie who at one point dropped to 3 lb. 14 ounces was now able to bench, squat and clean a combined 1,000 pounds, more than six times his body weight.
David Olney '56
Two years ago, Mackie moved to Denver to work in tech sales. He got a German Shepherd puppy named Pluto. He moved in with his co-worker Vic and they developed a close friendship. He also met the love of his life in Sarah. They shared a love for the outdoors, hiking, dogs, good food, music and more. While in Denver, Mackie developed a passion for film photography, and would walk the city with his Leica. Mackie also played recreational lacrosse, flag football, skied, hiked, mountain biked and weight lifted. Mackie was an aficionado of gaming, tattoo art, anime, tiny homes, cars & motorcycles, and an avid environmentalist. He also kept in daily contact with his East Coast cousins Rikki, Renny, Mia, Laini, Chris, Crystal, Tyler, Angie, Sonny & JJ. He lived a very full life and kept ALL of his family in his heart.
David Henney Olney '56, a resident of Scarborough, Maine, passed away on Monday, March 16, 2020 at the age of 82. Following his time at Cate, where he played football, soccer and was a prefect his senior year, Olney went on to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for two years and graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York City. While in New York, he also completed his bachelor’s degree from NYU.
Mackie, we are thankful you came into our lives, and for all the love you showered on us as a brother and a son. We are thankful for your zany side, which kept us laughing. We are thankful for the forgiveness you offered, despite our missteps. We are thankful for the week we spent with you over the holidays in Hanalei Bay, our final family trip. And we are so thankful that when you passed, you felt no pain or fear. Now you are gone, but you live on in our hearts. We will love you forever, until the day we are all reunited for eternity. Rest in peace, sweet Mackie. To honor Mackie’s legacy, we have established the Mackie Greason '11 Scholarship Fund at Cate School. The named endowment fund will support a deserving student each year who would otherwise be unable to attend. If you would like to make a tax deductible contribution to this fund in honor of Mackie, please contact the Cate School Advancement Office.
By Richard Olney '58
After college, he served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam era and following his stint in the Navy, he relocated to California where he worked at The Eames Office in Venice for about 12 years. In the mid 1970s, he returned to the East Coast where he lived and worked in Old Lyme, Conn. and Marblehead, Mass. before settling in Cape Elizabeth, Maine where he owned and operated Maine Laser Technology until his passing. A member of the Coast Guard Reserve for many years, Olney taught celestial navigation to active and reserve personnel in Portland, Maine. While in the reserve, he was a key member of the commision to restore and re-open the South Portland Lighthouse and related museum. Olney is survived by his wife of 58 years, Meme, and his son David and his wife Deana of Chester, N.H.
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IN MEMORIAM
Gwendolyn Pierce By Charlotte Brownlee '85 Gwendolyn. Gwendy. GP. Dr. Pierce. Wendy. Wen. Mom. The many names of Gwendolyn Pierce reflect the breadth of her relationships and the depth of her impact. A beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend, teacher, and colleague, Gwendolyn had a special name from each person in her life. While all of those roles were important to her, Gwendolyn’s favorite was certainly the name that her two wonderful grandchildren called her: Noni. More than anything, Gwendolyn loved her family. Her husband, Corey Welles, her daughters, Lauren McAllister and Rachel McAllister Sadler, and most of all, her grandchildren, Henry and Charlotte Sadler. Nothing made her happier than a well-planned visit with her family. She took particular joy in the weddings of her daughters: Rachel to Henry Sadler and Lauren to Paul Hendrick. 72
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A native of California, Gwendolyn was born into a family of six. She is survived by her four sisters and one brother: Susan Pierce DeVaughn, Laurie Pierce, Lisa Pierce, David Pierce (and wife Jane), and Taylor Beckett. All six kids competed on the Altadena Town & Country Club swim team and Gwendolyn won the award as the top female swimmer on the team as a 17-year-old. Always a lover of the water, she was a member of the varsity water polo and swim teams at John Muir High School in Pasadena, CA. Music and dance were of paramount importance to Gwendolyn. In her high school years she was a performer in Disney on Parade. A serious student of ballet and modern dance, Gwendolyn later channeled this skill into choreography work for school musicals and her much beloved fitness classes. After graduating from Pasadena City College, Gwendolyn also studied at the University of Southern California and the University of Connecticut. Gwendolyn served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay, and eventually dug roots in Connecticut, where her two daughters were raised at her beloved Loomis Chaffee School. A true child of the Golden State, Gwendolyn happily made her way back home to California in 2001 where she lived in Carpinteria at Cate. Everything Gwendolyn touched–her succulent garden, a basket of goodies for a student’s birthday, the choreography for a flash mob– was infused with grace, meticulous attention to detail, and a desire to make life better. To Gwendolyn, anything worth doing was worth doing beautifully. From the chaparral and eucalyptus to agaves and oak trees, the flora of California was reflected in her aesthetic and in her soul. For 38 years, Gwendolyn was a “boarding school person.” She thrived living among teenagers. Her rare ability to greet a young person just as they were and to truly appreciate their unique personality was a gift to generations of students at both Loomis Chaffee where she worked for
19 years and for another 19 years at the Cate School. The wisdom she gained through all those years of parenting teenagers was passed along to the parents of her students. One recent parent said in a letter to Gwendolyn, “One of the highlights of my many visits to Cate was having the opportunity to sit down with you, in your beautiful office, and hear your insights into my kid. In many ways, you helped me to better understand my own daughter, a rather priceless gift, that! My strong hunch is that you’ve touched the lives of many other children and their parents in equally profound ways. You’ve left indelible marks on many and, in my daughter’s case, strongly influenced the lovely young woman that she’s become.” At Cate, Gwendolyn served as the Senior Associate Director of Admission, in addition to roles including dorm parent, Day Student Advisor, choreographer, and fitness instructor. Famous for her formal dinner table decorations and elaborate dorm snacks, Gwendolyn always strove to make every student feel at home away from home. Shortly after moving back to California, Gwendolyn met her love, Corey Welles, and they were married in 2003. A professional horticulturist, Corey’s passion for both the natural world, and the adventurous world met their match in Gwendolyn. Weekends would find them both in overalls and big hats in their garden, lovingly re-arranging pots of succulents as they turned their home on the Mesa into an oasis. When their yard was featured in the Carpinteria Beautiful garden tour, it was a surprise to no one, as they set the standard for what a California garden can be. Gwendolyn passed away peacefully, in a beautiful place holding her husband’s hand, on January 30, 2020 after a valiant six-year battle with cancer. She leaves behind a multitude of loved ones who will always hold her memory–and their favorite name for her–in each agave and every bluebird that they see. The Celebration of Life planned originally for March 2020 will be rescheduled in the near future. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Gwendolyn Pierce Memorial Scholarship at Cate School.
Liam Mundy '19
courage. Liam stepped up in part because no one else would. That was his nature.
By Benjamin D. Williams IV
His legacy is rife with such memorable moments—gestures of kindness and care or hilarity and joy. Who will ever forget the image of Liam in drag as the inimitable laundress Edna Turnblad, announcing herself on stage by chastising her daughter, “Could you turn that racket down? I’m trying to iron in here.” Liam seemed as comfortable in Edna’s skin as he was in his own.
I met Liam in the fall of 2014 in New York. We held an admission reception in Manhattan that was to be followed by an alumni gathering. Liam was in 8th grade and he and his mom were among the first to arrive. I remember his energy, his total lack of inhibition, his disarming and entertaining candor. He was all over the place from a conversational standpoint, but you couldn’t hold that against him. His mind had places to go, and he wanted company. He got it. Lots of it. Liam and his mom Terri stayed through the admission portion of the evening and most of the alumni portion. Liam probably spoke to more people that evening than I did. My brothers and I used to say of our mom that she wouldn’t leave a room until she knew everybody by name. She and Liam might have been kindred spirits. During his freshman year here Liam became fond of an old bicycle with a basket on the front that he would often ride from Long House to wherever he had class. The old school bike with bespectacled Liam astride reminded me of the scene in Wizard of Oz when Mrs. Gulch was churning along the road ahead of the tornado after taking Toto from Dorothy, with the little dog in her basket. Liam was never so menacing, of course; he was too kind and well-meaning, and he was never pedaling away from anything. It was what he was going to that seemed to be on Liam’s mind: class, choir practice, lacrosse, football, some service project, a gathering with friends. I remember him showing us all his bruises after he volunteered to play goalie for the JV lacrosse team. He was quick in net, and proved to be a formidable goaltender, always willing to take one for the team. Sometimes that meant using every part of his body to stop a shot. I remember remarking at the time on his
Actually, he seemed at home everywhere. I watched a video this week of the final concert Camerata gave last year. Liam is standing in the middle of the back row, anchoring the bass section. “How Can I Keep from Singing” begins with only male voices, and as Liam and his fellow vocalists begin, several of the girls, most of them seniors, slowly wipe away tears. It’s a solemn, nostalgic moment, the title of the piece framing a question Liam surely asked himself. Song was his milieu, a way that Liam became Liam. At Commencement last year, in deference to his remarkable array of interests and aptitudes, I called Liam, “The best of what has been and what might be.” I still think of him that way.
wrote it after visiting the dorm room of his brother who had recently passed. It is called The Country of Who He Used to Be, and it might just as easily be about Liam. The essay concludes, “The residents of a campus change, but the residence does not, and each child who lives there adds infinitesimally to a story that can never be told in words. We thrash after ways to say what we know to be true, that the breath and laughter and tears and furies and despairs and thrills and epiphanies of children on a campus season the very air, coat the walls, soak into the soil, in ways we can never quite measure or articulate; so that while my brother’s ashes now rest in another soil, something of him, something of who he was, something of who he became, swirls still in the rooms where he lived for four years when he was young.” And so Liam remains … in this chapel, on this campus, in our residence halls, “high above the curving coast of the blue Pacific, flanked by the canyons and sheltered by the mountains he knew well.” Such a light even time can’t extinguish. Be at peace, my friend. You are with us still.
Mr. Cate once wrote on the eve of a milestone birthday, “75 years have proved to me the fallibility of man’s judgment and have made me humble.” Those words have extra resonance in moments like this, as we search for some meaning or purpose in Liam’s passing, as we wrestle with the limits of our knowing and the unfathomable depths of our grief. Mortality is a great humbler. For Liam, the end came too soon, like a passing star or Edna St. Vincent Millay’s candle that burns at both ends. “Ah my foes, and Oh, my friends,” goes the poet’s verse, “It gives a lovely light!” He did indeed. One of the essays I read aloud at the Sunset Ceremony when Liam was a student is from Brian Doyle. He 73
From the
Archives The spring of 1970 was a pivotal time in Cate’s history and a moment when the national tensions caused by changing cultural norms were also evident on the Mesa. The school experimented with no Saturday classes for a month (a test that ultimately was rejected), Headmaster Clark toured east coast boarding schools to get a deeper understanding of co-education, and Trustees discussed implementing standards for student hair length. In early May of 1970, the top songs on the Billboard charts were Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel, Let It Be by the Beatles, and Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum. Now, 50 years after the class of 1970 celebrated their graduation, these songs are still familiar to today’s Cate students. And, while the timing and form of the reunion for the class of 1970 (and all the classes ending in 5’s and 0’s) will be determined by the unfolding public health situation, we can be sure that when we do reunite, the music will be good.
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BOARD of TRUSTEES 2019-20 Officers of the Board
Life Trustees
Monique F. Parsons '84 Chair, Co-Chair Campaign Glencoe, IL
Richard D. Baum '64 Kenwood, CA
J. Wyatt Gruber '93 Vice Chair, President San Francisco, CA Henry F. Burroughs '68 Vice President Jackson, WY
Dan A. Emmett '99 Santa Monica, CA Greg H. Kubicek '74 Life Trustee Vancouver, WA Trustees
The Honorable Eric C. Taylor '80 Vice President Los Angeles, CA
Suzan Anderson Santa Barbara, CA
David Tunnell Treasurer San Francisco, CA
Jessica Bowlin Pacific Palisades, CA
Benjamin D. Williams IV Secretary/Headmaster Carpinteria, CA
Calgary Avansino '93 San Francisco, CA
Mimi Brown '92 Hong Kong Rosalind Emmett Nieman '89 Pacific Palisades, CA
Kate C. Firestone Buellton, CA
Casey McCann '97 Santa Barbara, CA
Peter Given '99 Alumni Council President San Mateo, CA
Leone Price '02 Los Angeles, CA
Sheila Marmon Heuer '90 Culver City, CA Adam Horowitz Irvine, CA David Horowitz Irvine, CA Frank A. Huerta '85 Santa Barbara, CA Ellis Jones '72 Los Angeles, CA
Marianne Sprague Santa Barbara, CA Lisa B. Stanson '92 Newport Beach, CA Brian Tom Hong Kong Faculty Advisory Trustees Anna Fortner English & Humanities Instructor Karl Weis History Instructor
Jenny C. Jones Santa Monica, CA Patricia MacFarlane Santa Barbara, CA
RE PORT ON P HI L A N THRO P Y
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CATE SCHOOL 1960 Cate Mesa Road Post Office Box 5005 Carpinteria, CA 93014-5005
Grace Johnson '21
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